Whirlpool Saga
by The-Lost-Samurai
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki was always told that he had no family. At best, they were dead. At worst, he was abandoned. How will he react when a redhaired shinobi arrives in Konoha and actually takes an interest in his wellbeing? How will this change affect him? How will it subsequently affect the shinobi world? Stronger Team 7. AU after chapter 1.
1. The Uzumaki Rogue

Warnings: This story is Naruto/Team 7 centric, but will put quite a bit of focus on a character of my own design. Just thought I'd mention this since some people aren't very interested in non canon characters, but if you're not against the idea, I'd urge you to read on, since at the very least mine does fit into the Naruto world.

I'd also like to say ahead of time that it will take me a while to really get going on this story. I will update every now and then, but as of now it is not at the top of my list. My list of stories and their priorities can now be found on my profile page. Ultimately this story will be separated into 4 or more books, but I'm still not sure how long it will be.

Pairings: Yes, there will be some. But for now, the only one I'll reveal is NaruHina. The rest will come later.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"Speech"

"_Thought_"

"**Demon/Summon Speech"**

"_**Demon/Summon Thought**_"

_Flashback/Dream_

* * *

**Book 1: The Rising Ripples**

**Chapter I: The Uzumaki Rogue**

The rogue leapt through the thick forest with practiced ease. As he broke through the trees and sighted his destination, he sighed tiredly. He had been wandering for years, and wasn't use to actually having an end location in mind, so finding a ninja village had been pretty tedious for him, even if this one didn't exactly live up to its name. _Hidden village _seemed to be a pretty common misnomer these days, but he was hardly one to scoff since it had taken him a few hours to find one even knowing he was in the general vicinity. All these trees looked the same to him.

As he drew closer, he felt a sudden fluctuation of chakra and frowned. The source clearly wasn't a shinobi, otherwise he could pinpoint them. The chakra disturbance seemed to come from all around him before it disappeared. He slowly looked around. A seal? That was what it felt like. He gave it some thought and smiled lightly. So that was it. The security seals drawn up around his home village wouldn't have alerted anyone to their activation, even a sensor. He knew that these seals were most likely based off of those, even if they weren't quite as advanced.

Not really caring that _someone_ knew he was here now, he walked up to the entrance of Konoha. He was quickly spotted by two shinobi on gate duty. Their chakra signatures were typical of higher level chunin. He passed through the gates and stopped by the desk to his left, and one of the shinobi greeted him with a lazy smile.

"Hi there. Visiting? Or just passing through?" he guessed.

"Actually no," the rogue responded. "I was wondering what the process was to become an active ninja of Konoha."

The gatekeeper raised an eyebrow and smiled in a very _I'm glad I'm not you_ like manner. "Background checks. Lots of background checks. And most likely a meeting with a Yamanaka."

"Don't forget Ibiki," his partner added.

The rogue shrugged, not really caring who Ibiki was, although he wasn't that comfortable with someone running around inside his mind. He'd heard of the Yamanaka clan before. "I can't say I expected anything better," he said. "When can I get this over with?"

"Right now, if you're feeling up to it," the first gatekeeper answered. "I can fill out the form and escort you to torture and interrogation."

The rogue thought they were definitely having a bit too much fun with this, but didn't really care enough to comment. He indicated that he was ready, and the man pulled out the necessary form. "Name?" he asked.

"Kurano Uzumaki."

* * *

The torture and interrogation department was oddly lively today. Ibiki thought that it was a bit _too_ lively, considering what they did. But considering the recent developments involving a certain traitor, this was to be expected. As if that wasn't enough, now he had this to deal with. He fought off a headache as Anko strolled in with an amused smile on her face.

"Hey, is it true? We've got more fresh meat today?" she asked, licking her lips. It wasn't often they got random wanderers requesting to become Konoha shinobi, and even when they did, it usually didn't end well for those 'wanderers.'

Ibiki grunted in annoyance. "If you're asking about our newest arrival, then yes, it's true," he answered. A chunin walked in and addressed Ibiki.

"Sir, we've finished questioning him. We thought you might want to see a record of his answers before we call in Inoichi-san." Ibiki nodded and held his hand out, receiving the printout. He took one look at it and frowned. As he read through it, his eyes narrowed. If this man's story didn't check out, he would likely be detained whether or not he was deemed a threat.

"Alright, call in Inoichi."

Kurano sat in boredom as he waited in a room surrounded by one way glass. He had expected this, but that didn't make it any less annoying. Finally, the door opened, and two men and a woman strolled in. One man looked extremely serious, and his face was littered with scars. The other was more relaxed. He was blonde haired and had a long ponytail. The woman was smiling in a way that would have made him uncomfortable if he was any less experienced..

"Before we get started with this, you have a choice to make," the woman said, grinning ear to ear. Kurano raised his eyebrows and stayed silent, prompting her to continue. "Option one: you walk out of here, we let you leave, and you can forget about enlisting in our ranks. Option two: you give us the necessary consent to infiltrate your mind. If we like what we see, you're on your way to becoming an official shinobi of Konoha. If we find anything suspicious, you never leave here again. Ready? Choose."

"Option two get on with it," Kurano said blandly. The woman's face filled with glee.

"Oh, I like him. Confident one isn't he? Now I'm not even sure whether I want to see him-"

"That's quite enough, Anko," the scarred man interrupted. "Inoichi, if you will."

The blonde haired man, who Kurano assumed was the Yamanaka, nodded before placing an intricate looking helmet on his head. He then placed his hand on Kurano's head and closed his eyes. Kurano guessed that any of his relevant memories were being transmitted to some device outside the room as the man sorted through them. After a few minutes, he removed his hand and opened his eyes. His face was exceptionally grim.

"So, what's the verdict?" Anko asked excitedly.

"Well, his story checks out," Inoichi answered. "I didn't find any seals to block me out or misdirect me either."

Anko raised an eyebrow. "What's with the morbid look then?" she asked.

"You'll find out once you view the transmission," he said with a sigh. The three filed out, and Kurano was left to his boredom again. He wasn't sure how he felt about people knowing his past just like that, but he had already decided he wanted to do this, so for anything short of them trying to torture him, he wasn't turning back. After another few minutes the three walked back in. Inoichi was rubbing his eyes and Anko looked slightly disturbed. Ibiki kept his expression neutral as he walked up to Kurano.

"Your request has been granted. We'll fill out the necessary paperwork for your permanent residency in Konohagakure. The next step is to arrange for you to meet with the Hokage. He'll finalize your authorization to live within the village and gauge your skill and specializations as a shinobi. That way we can determine what rank you'll be granted as an active member of our forces, if you are deemed fit to serve. Thank you for your cooperation."

Kurano nodded and was led out of the room by Anko. As they walked down the hall side by side, he ignored the subtle glances she was throwing his way. He felt this was going to be very a long day.

* * *

Hiruzen sighed tiredly as he read over the file on his desk. This was becoming a very long day. He was already disheartened from learning that his surrogate grandson had been tricked by a treasonous academy teacher and almost killed, and that his status as a jinchuuriki had been revealed to him in the process. Now he had just been informed that a survivor of Uzushiogakure had shown up out of nowhere and requested residency within Konoha as an active duty shinobi. That alone wouldn't normally give him the headache that he currently had. He was thrilled to have a surviving Uzumaki in Konoha. The problem was how he was going to explain this to the _other_ Uzumaki that was already living here. It wasn't every day a shunned orphan found out that he had a long lost distant relative. He wondered how Naruto would react, especially after the day he'd already had. The fact that there was a survivor of that clan in Konoha raised some difficult questions, such as just _how_ distant of a relative he was, but he filed them away for later. He was pulled out of his thoughts by a knock on the door.

"Enter," he said. The door opened to reveal the man in question, for he could be nobody else. The man had spiky crimson red hair as well as a familiar shade of blue eyes, which were vibrant in color, and yet frighteningly lifeless in character. Still, he was an Uzumaki if Hiruzen ever saw one. "Kurano Uzumaki I presume?" he said with a light smile. The man nodded. "Please, take a seat," he said as he motioned to the chair opposite his desk. Kurano casually strolled over to the chair before plopping down lazily. He didn't strike Hiruzen as one for formalities.

"I was just looking at your file," the hokage began. "Before anything else, I'd like to extend my sympathies, as well as my condolences. Uzushio was our closest ally. We were unable to aid them in time, and that led to their collapse. I can only imagine what you went through back then, and you have my apologies on behalf of our village."

Kurano seemed slightly surprised at his words. After a moment a light smile manifested on his face. Hiruzen somehow felt that he was witnessing a rare occurrence. "Thanks," the redhead stated sincerely. "I appreciate it." His smile suddenly turned bitter. "But I hardly think you're the one who should be apologizing."

Hiruzen nodded gravely. The cause of Uzushio's destruction wasn't well known, but it wasn't surprising that someone who was directly involved knew. He wondered how much resentment the man had bottled up inside. Kumo and Iwa had been ruthless at the start of the Second Shinobi War, combining their forces to destroy the village of whirlpools before Konoha could come to their aid. Even then, they had still lost a huge number of their forces, but the Uzumaki had been nearly wiped out in the process, and the survivors scattered.

"As I'm sure you've been told, we'll need to accurately gauge your level of prowess before we can offer you a position as a shinobi. In the unlikely case that you are deemed unfit, you may still choose to reside within Konoha. But I have a feeling that this will not be the case."

"How are you planning to test my skill?" Kurano spoke up.

"The quickest way is to pit you against one of our own shinobi in a spar. Your observers will determine whether your performance warrants the rank of jounin, chunin, or genin. The spar will take place tomorrow morning. Until then, we can get you situated. Your residency expenses will be payed by the village until the decision is made. Do you have any questions so far?"

"Actually, I have one, but not in regard to my status," Kurano said. Hiruzen nodded, prompting him to continue. "24 years ago, before the destruction of my village, one of my cousins moved here at the request of the Konoha council. I was never told why, but I am curious to see her again. If I gave you her name, do you think you could direct me to her?" he asked.

Hiruzen gradually paled as the man spoke. He hadn't expected this. "Your cousin is Kushina Uzumaki?" he asked weakly.

Kurano blinked. "Yes, that's right. I guess you remember. Then do you know where she…?" he trailed off, reading the sickly expression on Hiruzen's face, before the life died from his own. "She's not around anymore, is she?" he asked lowly.

"I'm sorry," Hiruzen said quietly. "She died in an attack on the village 12 years ago." His voice was filled to the brim with regret.

"I see," Kurano said slowly, before raising a hand to his face and grimacing. "Sorry, it's just...she was part of the reason I finally came here. I knew her well before she left. To learn that she's passed is...discouraging."

Seeing Kurano's obvious attempt at hiding his despair, Hiruzen's self restraint broke. This man was younger than Kushina would be today. He had most likely just told him that his long lost older sister figure was dead. Consequences be damned. He would _not_ hold out on this man. "She bore a son," he whispered. "On that day, she gave birth to a healthy infant, before dying in the attack along with the boy's father."

Kurano looked up at him in shock, and Hiruzen was relieved to see some of the life that he had just extinguished had sparked in the man's eyes once again. "Is he...an orphan?" he managed.

Hiruzen nodded. "He lives alone. It's quite the tragedy. He's never known any family, and nobody knows of his heritage…including himself. I don't mean to put any pressure on you, but I think your presence in his life could be very fulfilling, and not just for him."

Hiruzen gave him a minute to mull that over. Something in the man's eyes told him that he had already come to a decision. Finally, Kurano spoke.

"Can I meet him?" he asked quietly. Hiruzen smiled and nodded.

"Of course."

* * *

Iruka sighed in exasperation as Naruto enhailed his fifth bowl of ramen. This was going to empty out his pockets quite a bit. Whatever. The kid deserved it after what he'd just been through. From being tricked and nearly killed by that bastard Mizuki (who was now in Ibiki's hands, much to Iruka's satisfaction), to learning he had a demon fox sealed within him, to having to recount everything he'd heard to the hokage, he'd earned a few bowls of his favorite food at the very least. Now if only he was having a mere few bowls…

"Iruka, Naruto, I thought I might find you here. I see you are both doing well. That's good to know." They both turned toward the familiar voice. Iruka nodded. "Hokage-sama," he greeted, before glancing at the man beside him curiously. Naruto shouted an enthusiastic greeting to the old man before staring in wonder at the redhead along with Iruka. After greeting an exuberant Tsuchi and Ayame, Hiruzen addressed the blonde.

"Naruto, there are a few things that I would like to tell you. Would you mind if we sat down?" he asked. Naruto shrugged and Iruka motioned to the seat next to him. Hiruzen sat down along with the redhaired man he had come with, and both Naruto and Iruka wondered what this was about. Neither had ever seen the younger man before.

Hiruzen got right down to business. "Naruto, I've never told you anything about your mother, have I?" There was regret in his voice, which Iruka recognized. Naruto's eyes widened and he shook his head. The old man never brought up his parents! He always broached that topic himself when he was feeling extra lonely, only to receive a vague response for his troubles. "Well Naruto, it's time I told you who she was. Are you ready to hear this?" Naruto nodded eagerly, and Iruka leaned forward without realizing it. "Her name was Kushina Uzumaki," the hokage stated. From behind the counter, Teuchi and Ayame listened intently to the topic that had come up. They had both known who Naruto's mother was, but were surprised that the hokage was telling him.

Hiruzen had to give credit to the two. They were some of the few people who knew had made the connection. He commended their self restraint. He had had a conversation with the two years ago, and they had reluctantly agreed not to tell Naruto about them. Even now, the only reason he was telling him was because the relationship between his parents had been a secret for the most part. Still, he would have to be careful from now on. Still, his worries did nothing to deter the happiness that he felt seeing Naruto bounce up and down excitedly in his seat. The boy deserved to know this much.

"So what was she like?" Naruto asked hurriedly. "Was she a ninja? Was she strong? Was she pretty?" Hiruzen interrupted the barrage of questions.

"Slow down Naruto. All can be answered in time. For now, one thing you should know about your mother is that she wasn't from here. She was from a distant village allied with us, called Uzushio, and moved here later in life." The boy nodded earnestly, thrilled that he was learning something about one of his parents. "Another thing you should know...is that she has a single surviving relative to this day, as do you." Iruka, Tsuchi, and Ayame all widened their eyes to epic proportions, while Naruto stared at the hokage, wondering if this was some kind of cruel joke. "Naruto, I'd like to present Kurano Uzumaki, your mother's first cousin, who has just arrived in the village today."

Naruto looked back and forth between Hiruzen and the redhaired man, not knowing how to react. This was too good to be true. He had _family_? As the man of his flesh and blood stepped towards him, he rose from his seat, and his legs almost failed him. Kurano held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Naruto." Naruto stared at the hand for a few seconds, before slowly bringing his up and shaking it.

"You always this timid kid?" Kurano asked, and Hiruzen laughed.

"I'm afraid not. Enjoy this while you can," he said. "Naruto, Kurano is scheduled to become a ninja by tomorrow. How would you feel about him staying with you until then so you two can get to know each other?" he asked.

Naruto gulped, but nodded numbly. Iruka looked at him in worry. This was undoubtedly a lot to take in at once. "In that case, I'll leave him in your care," the old man said with a smile. "Be polite, he's your guest." With that said, he walked off leisurely in the direction of the hokage tower, leaving Kurano with four shocked individuals. The redhead looked back at the hokage and sighed before turning towards Naruto.

"So, feel like showing me the sights, or can that wait until tomorrow?" he asked. Naruto didn't answer, continuing to stare up at him in awe. Kurano's eye twitched. "Alright then, why don't you just lead me back to your place whenever you're ready?" Confronted with a yes or no question this time, Naruto managed a nod. As they walked away, Iruka frowned in slight paranoia.

Both Uzumakis were quiet as Naruto unlocked the door to his apartment and they entered. Kurano took a look around. "Nice place you got here," he said. Naruto rubbed his head and, having finally found his voice during their walk home, spoke up.

"About that...there's only one bed," he admitted.

Kurano shrugged. "I'll take the floor kid. It'll be a step up from where I usually sleep." Naruto looked at him curiously.

"Why? Where do you usually sleep?" he asked.

"On the ground," he redhaired man answered. "I've been living off the land for a while now." He turned towards Naruto, and blinked. The boy was starry eyed.

"That's so cool!" he exclaimed. Kurano raised an eyebrow.

"You would say that. You've never tried it before," he said. Naruto paused for a moment as he stared at the ground, before looking up at his elder relative.

"Kurano-san?" he said. The redhead grimaced.

"Drop the honorific kid. What's up?" Naruto seemed to hesitate, before taking a deep breath.

"Can I call you aniki?" he asked. Kurano seemed taken aback by this, but after a moment a small smile graced his lips.

"That one's fine I guess," he said quietly. Naruto beamed.

* * *

A/N: So there you have it. As I'm sure you've already guessed, Kurano's presence in Konoha will cause many changes to the Naruto verse that will only grow as the story continues, hence the AU part. By the way, the title of this story is a most likely amateur translation of the Japanese term 'Uzumaki' which may or may not be accurate. While I know that 'Uzu' means whirlpool/vortex and 'Maki' means saga/volume, I don't know whether the two words convey this attempted meaning when combined. If any of you know better, please feel free to correct me.


	2. Loyalties

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter II:** **Loyalties**

Kurano's evening was spent answering a hail of questions from an eager 12 year old that, having long since abandoned his temporary shell of timidness, proceeded to flaunt the exuberance that characterized him under normal circumstances. He was gradually developing a headache, although he didn't show it, not just because of the quantity of questions but also because of the nature of them. Naruto wanted to know everything. From his mother's likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies, to her relationship with Kurano. It was that last one that was starting to bring the migraine on.

"Slow down Naruto," Kurano said. "I would like to answer your questions, but you have to give me a chance to speak first," he said. Naruto pouted, but then bounced right back and smiled widely, nodding in acceptance. "Let's take this from the top. Ask one question at a time."

Naruto face scrunched up in thought as he was forced to choose one. "Were you and my mom good friends?" he finally asked. Kurano ignored the sting from the question that would be the most difficult to answer.

"Yes...we were. The best," he said slowly. "She was my cousin, but I thought of her as more of an older sister. We would spend a lot of our time with one another actually. We played together, trained together, fought together..." He trailed off as the heartache became too much for him to continue. As he brought a hand over his eyes, Naruto looked at him in worry.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Kurano didn't answer for a few seconds as he tried to banish the memories from his mind. He regained his composure and nodded. "I'm fine," he said.

Naruto hesitated. He wanted to know about his mother, more than anything, but what if his questions were just causing his relative pain? He had never known his mother. Finding out she was dead honestly wasn't much worse than not knowing who she was or wondering if he'd been abandoned all his life, even if it still hurt. But it finally occurred to him that Kurano had probably just found out that she wasn't alive anymore. Was he just preventing the wounds from closing?

"Don't worry about me Naruto," the man said, as if he could read minds. "You deserve to know about her." Although the anguish from everything that had happened was great, somehow this boy seemed to dull the pain. Perhaps it was because he was all that was left of her, but perhaps it was more than that. In the short time they had been talking, the boy's personality had reminded him of Kushina's on more than one occasion. While this brought back painful memories, it also helped him deal with them. "Now, what's your next question?"

Naruto reluctantly asked it. "You said you trained together. How strong was she?" This one caused Kurano to smile lightly.

"She was infuriatingly strong," he answered. "I was never able to beat her, even once, and I could tell she always went easy on me. Just by watching how she dealt those who tried to bully us, I decided at a very young age to never make her angry." Naruto looked at him in awe.

"She was so good that you never beat her? But you look so strong!" the blonde commented. Kurano shrugged.

"Well, to be fair, she was four years my senior. I was 8 years old the last time we fought, not even a ninja yet. That was the year when…" he trailed off again. Naruto looked at him curiously.

"The year when…?"

Kurano rubbed his eyes tiredly. "The year when she left," he said. Naruto looked down.

"Oh. Sorry," he said, as he rubbed the back of his head.

"No need to apologize. You weren't even alive back then," the redhead pointed out. "Any other questions?"

Naruto had many more questions, but now that he thought about it, Kurano wouldn't be able to answer many of them, seeing as he hadn't seen her in so long. He settled on one more. "What did she like to do?" he asked. "I mean, how did she spend her time and all?"

This one truly made Kurano smile. "Well, she was both renowned and feared as the village's most gifted prankster. I was always caught up in her mischief, whether willingly or not, and was punished alongside her. I usually didn't mind though to be honest. Other than that, she was quite the ramen addict. She would empty out our parents' pockets every time we went out for lunch, devouring bowl after bowl. Sometimes I wondered where she put it all, but I wisely refrained from asking." He broke off from the memories and looked back at Naruto, then blinked at the ecstatic grin on the boy's face. He was practically bursting with happiness. Kurano sweatdropped as he actually started jumping for joy.

"I knew it! Mom was awesome!" he shouted as he pumped his fist in the air. Kurano waited for him to run out of energy. And waited...and waited. It soon became apparent that he would not, and Kurano decided to distract him by redirecting his enthusiasm.

"So how about you tell me about yourself now? How long have you been a ninja?" he asked, taking note of the boy's headband.

Naruto finally stopped jumping up and down, although his excited grin did not vanish. "I just became one today! I mean, at first I failed the graduation exam, but then I learned this super awesome jutsu and Iruka sensei passed me!" Kurano raised an eyebrow.

"Super awesome jutsu huh? Mind demonstrating?" He was a bit skeptical, but Naruto nodded eagerly and put his hands in a slightly familiar cross seal that made his eyes widen slightly.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" the boy shouted. The apartment room became shrouded in smoke, but Kurano could easily make out over 20 identical chakra signatures in the room with them. This, he hadn't expected. When the smoke cleared, over 20 corporeal Narutos were grinning at him. Great. One was already a handful so far.

But this was fascinating to say the least. From the minute he saw Naruto, Kurano had already noticed that he had abnormally high chakra reserves far surpassing that of any genin. Now that he actually payed attention, he realized that that was just the tip of the iceberg. This child had the reserves of a kage. It's a wonder how no one had noticed, but Kurano soon realized why. During the moment of the technique's activation, Naruto had spiked his chakra to levels higher than that of most jounin, but afterwards it had settled back to the level of an average chunin.

The boy was subconsciously suppressing his chakra signature. That was quite remarkable, to say the least. Kurano usually regulated his chakra levels to that of a higher level chunin just so he could go unnoticed, and if needed, he could suppress it to the point where only another sensor would be able to pick up on it, although this was difficult for him since they were so high. But for a fresh genin to suppress his chakra so much without even realizing it? It was unheard of. Now that Kurano's focus was solely on the boy, he realized that his true chakra levels surpassed those of the current hokage. That had him stumped. Naruto had Uzumaki blood, and had clearly inherited Kushina's remarkable vitality. But even some fully grown Uzumaki didn't have the reserves that this boy had. Most Uzumaki children had the reserves of low level jounin when they first became ninja, which is why Kurano hadn't thought to check for anything deeper than that in Naruto. How could Naruto have such high reserves at this age?

"Naruto, thank you for the demonstration. You can dispel your shadow clones now, I'd like to check something." Naruto nodded and made the same seal, and the shadow clones puffed out of existence. Now Kurano closed his eyes and focused his senses on Naruto. The boy looked at him curiously, wondering what he was doing. As the seconds ticked by, Kurano seemed to grow unnerved, and a bead of sweat slipped down his face. When he opened his eyes, they spoke of sadness. Kurano was looking at him in a new light.

"Naruto, I'm not sure if you knew this, but deep within you, there is a chakra other than your own. A dark and sinister one." Having said this, Kurano carefully observed Naruto's reaction. He looked confused at first, but after a few seconds, his eyes widened and sweat started to pour down his face. He looked nervous, and Kurano could guess why.

"Um...that's…" the boy started to answer but stopped and gulped. He wasn't just nervous. He was frightened. Kurano decided he should set the boy at ease. He was still a child and it came as no surprise that he was insecure about something like this.

"I don't mean to worry you Naruto. Whatever you're about to say, it won't change how I think of you. You are Naruto Uzumaki, Kushina's son, and that will never change. But whatever this is, I still think it's important that I know about it."

Naruto seemed to be put at ease by this, although he still looked nervous. He took a deep breath. "I just found out today...I was told that the nine-tailed fox that attacked the village 12 years ago was sealed inside me by the Fourth Hokage." He looked down at the ground as he said this. When he finally looked up, none of the malice that he expected to see on Kurano's face was there. Instead there was...compassion? He was looking at him the same way that Iruka sensei did from time to time. This confused Naruto. He was used to everyone hating him, and now that he finally knew why, he wasn't expecting that to change so suddenly. Could he really have one more person who knew about the fox and didn't care? The thought gave rise to a feeling that was still unfamiliar to Naruto, but he recognized it as something that he had also felt when Iruka sensei had acknowledged him.

He felt like no matter what happened, he didn't want to disappoint Kurano, ever.

"Thank you for telling me Naruto. I know that must have been hard, but rest assured that you can trust me with this information. If you don't want me to tell anyone, I won't."

Naruto nodded hesitantly. "I don't think I want the people I know to find out yet," he said. Kurano nodded.

"Then that's that. But on that note, there is something else I'd like you to tell me."

Naruto nodded, prompting him to continue.

"How many people _do_ know?" Naruto was a little confused by this question, but remembered what Mizuki had said and answered.

"All the adults know, but no one around my age does." Kurano's eyes narrowed at this, and Naruto quickly clarified, telling him about the law that the hokage had made.

Naruto was a little caught off guard when he changed the subject and asked about his life so far. He told him that it was fine, but the man didn't seem to be satisfied with that, asking him to be more specific. It was a question he'd rather not answer, but he found that he didn't want to keep anything from Kurano now. So he answered his questions one by one as Kurano asked about his time at the academy, his earliest memories, and why he wasn't in an orphanage. They were all questions that he was hard pressed to answer, but he responded truthfully nonetheless. He didn't want to lie to someone who had accepted him like Iruka sensei.

When he finally asked how he was treated by the villagers, Naruto looked down. How could he answer that? "They're not that bad," he said. That wasn't a lie. He had proven that he could deal with them. "Except on my birthday…"

Kurano's head perked up as calculating thoughts raced through his mind. Kushina had died in an attack on the village. Naruto had the Kyuubi sealed within him, which meant that he was born before or on the day of the attack. From this he could conclude that Kushina had most likely died at the hands of the Kyuubi, which the hokage had conveniently neglected to mention. But that wasn't what caused his face to darken. He thought back to the mysteries that had surrounded Kushina's departure from their home 24 years ago. She hadn't known herself why she had to leave, only that she apparently had no choice in the matter. When he had repeatedly asked his parents, he had received no answer. It was as if they had been hiding something. And then four years later, his chances of ever getting any answers had been destroyed along with the village and its inhabitants. Kurano wasn't an idiot. If you gave him a simple puzzle, he would put it together. He just needed all the pieces, and now he had them. Finally, he knew. But that could wait.

"Naruto, what do the villagers do on your birthday?" he asked in a low tone. It was taking all of his effort not to leak killing intent.

Naruto gulped, frightened by the look on Kurano's face, and stuttered out an answer. He explained how he had tried to attend the kyuubi festival honoring the Fourth Hokage's defeat of the demon fox on his 5th birthday. Kurano's face darkened even further when he mentioned that.

"_He was born on the day of the fucking attack._ _The day both his parents died along with the Fourth Hokage. If he tried to celebrate his birthday in public, there could very well be lynch mobs after him..."_

Naruto had paused, and Kurano had to ask again what had happened that day, but Naruto was reluctant to answer. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to give in to this weakness. He hadn't cried in so long. He hadn't broken down in so long. But with Kurano here, prompting him to answer, as if he actually gave a damn what had happened, he had never been so tempted to just let that shell of happiness that had hardened over the years come crashing down around him. But he didn't want to deal with that pain. He didn't want to expose himself.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Kurano smiling at him again. It wasn't the same smile as before. It reminded him of the one he always wore when he walked down the street and the villagers glared at him. It was a mask.

"It's ok. You don't have to tell me. Just know that I'll be here if you ever want to talk about it," Kurano said, as if sensing his previous thoughts. Naruto nodded. He was ashamed. He was keeping things from his only family. But he didn't want to talk about this yet. He hadn't even talked about it with Iruka sensei or old man hokage. "Naruto, I just have one last question for you. What is your dream?" he asked.

Naruto's mood visibly brightened. That was an easy one. "To be hokage! One day I'll surpass all the previous hokage and make everyone acknowledge me! Then I'll protect this village and show them what a great ninja I am!" Kurano stared at him for a long while, as if assessing him, and then nodded.

"You're very enthusiastic about it," he commented, and Naruto grinned even wider, oblivious of the weight and sway that his words had just carried.

"What do you say we call it a night Naruto?" Kurano suggested. "I'm a little worn out from my journey here to be honest. I haven't slept in a while." Naruto nodded his agreement. He had had a long day himself, and was actually tired for once. Kurano promptly dropped backwards onto the floor and rested his head against his arms. "Good night then," he said, causing Naruto to laugh.

"Good night Aniki," he said, causing Kurano to smile lightly again before he raced over to his bed.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto walked into the kitchen to find Kurano already up. "Morning," he said with a yawn, before smiling widely. He wasn't used to waking up to someone being in his home. It was weird, but also comforting.

"Morning," the redhead replied. "Don't you have anything other than instant ramen, kid?" he asked in slight annoyance. Naruto opened the fridge.

"I have milk," he offered.

"Yea, I saw. It expired a month ago. Have you really been drinking that?" he asked. Naruto nodded, wondering what the problem was. "You're lucky you're not making a trip to the bathroom every 5 minutes," Kurano commented. "I'll have to go shopping later." The fact that Naruto now had family suddenly hit Naruto again. He wouldn't have to always provide for himself now. He actually had someone who could help look after him. Kurano finished his cup of instant ramen and got ready to leave.

"Where are you going?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I have my rank evaluations soon," the redhead answered. "But first I need to discuss something with the hokage."

"Well, see you later today then?" he asked.

"Of course. Oh by the way, I saw that there was an apartment room for rent right next to this one, which is convenient. I'll rent that one out so I can check up on you from time to time. Is that ok with you?"

Naruto nodded. He knew it wasn't a coincidence that that room was empty. No one wanted to live next to the demon brat after all. He didn't say anything though. Kurano waved over his shoulder as he left.

* * *

Hiruzen was sorting paperwork as he thought about the coming evaluation that he would be giving Kurano. There was no doubt in his mind that the man would pass. In fact, he would be surprised if he didn't make jounin. But the knowledge that he didn't know quite how powerful the Uzumaki was...it was bothering him a little. He was used to knowing the strength of the shinobi under him, but he could tell that Kurano had been constantly holding back his chakra signature, so it was tough to get a read on him in that regard. He was hoping his curiosity would be sated during the evaluation.

It was then that the man in question jumped through the window and landed smoothly in front of his desk. Hiruzen raised an eyebrow.

"Good morning Hokage-sama. Do I need to make an appointment?" he asked.

"I don't see why you would. No one else does," the hokage grumbled. "What can I help you with, Kurano?"

"Could you activate the privacy seals?" he requested. The hokage raised an eyebrow, but complied. He made a hand seal, and feeling the subtle fluctuation of chakra in the room, Kurano was satisfied. "I wanted to talk to you about Naruto. Something about him has captured my attention," he began.

"And what would that be?" the hokage asked.

"He's a jinchuuriki," Kurano said bluntly.

Hiruzen stilled as he stared at Kurano with a guarded expression. "How did you know?" he asked.

"I'm a sensor," Kurano replied. "While the seal that has been holding back the Kyuubi's chakra was marvelously crafted, it still wasn't difficult for me to pick up on the malevolent chakra deep within him.

"Have you talked to him about this?" Hiruzen asked, in a tone that bordered on hostility.

"Before I answer that, I'd appreciate it if you reeled in your killing intent," Kurano drawled. The hokage may be his superior now, but if he was to be honest with himself, he was never good with subordination, and the old man's hostility was testing his patience, even if it did speak of a fierce protectiveness for his young relative.

When the hokage did just that, Kurano answered his previous question. "I have discussed it with him, seeing as he already knew," the redhead responded. "And I was quick to inform him that it made no difference to me. But judging from his reaction to my knowing, along with what he's told me, as well as what he's refrained from telling me, I've come to an undesirable conclusion."

"And what is this conclusion?" Hiruzen asked carefully. Quite suddenly, the situation was reversed, and Kurano's own killing intent flooded the room. On his face, a dark fury had manifested.

"That if Inoichi-san were to evaluate my loyalty to Konoha now, the result could be quite different," he said in a low tone.

Several anbu who were hidden in the room stiffened and got ready to strike. Although they were all sweating in the face of the massive spike in chakra, Hiruzen kept his face impassive.

"And your intentions now are? Be careful answering this. You should know what will happen if you answer wrong," he said.

Kurano ignored the question. "Four anbu and a kage. That _would_ be quite the challenge," the redhead stated. Hiruzen's eyes narrowed, and the four hidden anbu were now even more nervous. Their chakra signatures were supposed to be virtually undetectable. This guy wasn't kidding when he said he was a sensor. As suddenly as it had appeared though, the killing intent dissipated, and the assault on their psyches ceased. "When Naruto told me of his life here in the village," Kurano began, "I entertained the thought of simply taking him and fleeing this shithole that is supposedly his home. But I was sensible enough to ask him what his goal in life was first."

Hiruzen let a satisfied smile manifest on his face. "And?" he asked. Kurano stared him down.

"Something tells me you already know. The answer he gave me was miraculous. He wants to be the leader of this deplorable village. And not just so that the villagers would be forced to acknowledge his humanity. He actually said he wanted to change their minds by _protecting_ the ones who have made his life a hell on earth. I couldn't stop wondering what drove him to do such a thing. But then it came to me."

Hiruzen's expression turned serious as he saw where this was going. "It's you," he went on. "You were the first person to acknowledge him. The first person to ever show him what positive human interaction was. Am I correct?" Hiruzen nodded gravely, and Kurano continued. "A divine blessing, bestowed upon a miserable soul condemned to a purgatory of loneliness and isolation." His eyes had a faraway look as he said this, as if the ghosts of his past were haunting him at this very moment. "Despite everything he's endured, he chooses to follow in the footsteps of the person who helped him maintain his sanity. In an ocean of darkness, he swam for the single source of light, however dim it was. I'm no fool. I saw the way he looked at you. You're his idol. He strives to surpass you. Even if I was more confident in my own charisma, I could never be so cruel as to ask him to choose between his loyalties. So to answer your question, my intentions are the same, but my motivations have changed." Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, and the man elaborated. "So long as he strives to protect this village, I will do the same. But know this. While his loyalty may lie with Konoha, mine lies with him. If he is ever pushed over the edge, I will follow him without a second thought."

Hiruzen actually smiled. He was more than satisfied with the answer. In fact, he wouldn't have asked for anything else. Kurano turned toward the door, but cast one last glance over his shoulder.

"Of all the ridiculous things in the world, his willingness to forgive has reserved a place in my heart. When I asked him what his ambitions were, I was prepared to soon be on the run from anbu. For reasons I can't yet ascertain, I feel as if the answer he gave has changed the fate of our shinobi world. At the very least, it has changed the fate of this village. Konoha has just gained a future kage."

The elderly kage's smile only widened. "You really believe that will happen?" he asked.

"I will make it happen," the redhead answered as he walked toward the door and opened it, subsequently deactivating the privacy seals.

"Don't be late to your evaluation," Hiruzen said.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Hokage-sama," he said as he walked out the door. The anbu finally relaxed.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter begins with Kurano's evaluation. Leave a review, tell me what you thought. You know the drill.


	3. Konoha's Newest Jounin

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter III: Konoha's Newest Jounin**

"So you idiots showed up too huh?" Anko asked as Genma, Raido, and Aoba arrived at the training ground.

"Only because they dragged me along," Genma said lazily.

"You mean you really don't want to see what the new guy can do?" Kurenai asked with a smile as she stood beside Asuma.

"Not really," Genma said with a yawn. "The last time this happened the newbie barely made chunin. I still don't understand why we always make an event out of this."

"You speak as if this happens often," Asuma pointed out. "It's not every day we get new recruits from out of the village who are already trained as shinobi. By rule we almost always turn away missing nin. The fact that this guy made it through all the checks is surprising."

"That's because he's not a missing nin," Anko said, drawing everyone's attention. "He never betrayed his village. It was destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Kurenai repeated with a hint of confusion. "Where is he from?" Villages being destroyed wasn't a common occurrence, and it certainly didn't happen during times of peace.

Anko turned to her with a small grin. "Uzushiogakure."

The reactions from the jounin were about what she expected. Even Asuma looked surprised.

"The hidden whirlpool? You mean he survived its destruction? The shinobi of that village were thought to be wiped out during the second war…"

"It's possible that he was too young to take part in the war effort, and so he was evacuated with the civilians," Genma commented. "But if that's the case and he's a ninja now, then most likely…"

"An Uzumaki?" Kurenai gasped. Anko nodded in confirmation.

"You mean you guys didn't know? I thought Hokage-sama briefed you." she said.

"He just told us we were to help measure his capabilities," Kurenai said. "But that alone is strange, seeing as he would normally only pick one of us for that. In fact, I heard Guy was supposed to help test him too."

"This guy must have really captured his interest then," Aoba stated. "I guess it makes sense if he's really from _that_ clan." Anko just shrugged, and Asuma turned to her.

"Come to think of it Anko, you've seen his memories haven't you? Is that why you came?" he asked.

Anko grinned again. "I just wanted to see how he'd do. Something tells me this one is going to be interesting." Just then a green blur shot through the trees and landed beside them.

"Konoha's green beast of prey has arrived to measure the youthfulness of our village's newest youth!" the new arrival shouted passionately as he bumped fists with no one.

"Oh God…" Anko groaned. "Maybe I shouldn't have come after all."

"Look sharp," Raido spoke up. "Here comes Hokage-sama."

They all straightened as the elderly kage approached them. "It seems we have quite the gathering," he commented. "In addition to our 'examiners', so to speak."

"We were just wondering about that Dad," Asuma replied. "Is there a reason why you're having three of us test him?"

"Yes actually. The three of you specialize in different areas, so I was curious to see how he'd perform against each of you."

"Is he really that good?" Asuma asked, looking around. "Where is he anyway?"

"Good question," Hiruzen said. "I'm certain I told him the location. He should be showing up anytime-"

He was interrupted by a sudden gust of wind that drew everyone's attention. They all turned to see a redhaired man standing in the middle of the training ground, staring at them blank faced as the air currents died down. Asuma looked on in interest. '_Wind release body flicker?_'

"Ah, Kurano, you've arrived. Now we can begin," Hiruzen said.

Said man eyed the gathering of elite and special jounin. "What's with the crowd?" he asked. The hokage smiled at him.

"It's somewhat of a tradition," he answered. "The shinobi of Konoha are interested to see our newest recruits in action. I know you won't disappoint them. Now then, Kurenai, if you'll please step forward." The red eyed woman walked forward and stood across from Kurano. "Kurenai here is a genjutsu specialist. I thought I'd have her test you first in order to observe your skills in that area."

If Kurano was surprised that he was to have multiple people testing him, he didn't show it. "Alright, but I'm not that good with it myself," he responded. "The only thing I can do proficiently with a genjutsu is dispel it."

The hokage nodded. "Then we'll see just how proficient you are in that area. You may both use whatever techniques you deem fit, but do remember that this is a spar between fellow Konoha shinobi. You may begin when ready."

"Then let me say one thing," Kurano said. "I've come across genjutsu in the past that have forced me to relive my worst memories. As a specialist, you're most likely well versed in some of those. I request that you refrain from using any of them."

Kurenai frowned. "Why would I use such a technique on a comrade to begin with?"

"I don't have the luxury of comrades," the redhead replied.

"You do now," Kurenai said sternly. Kurano stared at Kurenai, who met his gaze without flinching. Finally, he spoke.

"I'm ready whenever you are," he said. Kurenai immediately pulled out a kunai and threw it at Kurano, who caught it by the handle and spun it around. Kurenai was already charging him with another kunai, and the two knives collided. The two broke apart and repeated the action, parrying and blocking each other's swipes. This continued on for a minute before Kurenai jumped back, staring at Kurano intently as the hokage watched in interest.

"What's she doing?" Anko asked in an impatient tone. "She hasn't cast a single genjutsu."

"Not for lack of trying," Asuma commented. Anko turned to him in confusion.

"What does that mean? Red over there hasn't even missed a beat."

"You're right. He hasn't," Asuma confirmed as he watched them with narrowed eyes. "One of the reasons Kurenai is considered a specialist in genjutsu is the subtlety and grace with which she activates them - without hand-seals, and without ever interrupting the flow of the fight. Her opponents don't see it coming because she gives no visible signs of having used one.

That's how she can trap them without them ever realizing it."

Anko thought about it. Asuma was right. Kurenai usually left her guessing in that regard when they trained together. "So then why aren't her genjutsu working?" she asked.

"Good question," Asuma replied.

Kurenai watched Kurano curiously as she broke off from him again. She had attempted over half a dozen genjutsu since the spar began, and he had dispelled them all within a second of her casting them, before they could even take effect. How was he doing it? She prided herself on the subtlety of her techniques, and yet it was as if he knew exactly when she used one. How was he detecting them so easily? As the redhead awaited her next move, she decided to try something different. She threw the kunai in her hand, which rebounded off of Kurano's own as he threw it. They both dashed forward and caught the knives out of the air before engaging one another again. "_Now_," Kurenai thought as she activated her next technique.

"Haven't you learned that it won't work by now?" Kurano asked calmly as he dispelled the oncoming illusion. Kurenai took that chance to dash forward again, but Kurano stuck his foot out and swept her leg. She stumbled, and Kurano was suddenly hovering over her, kunai pressed against her throat. Kurenai's eyes widened, but Kurano's narrowed. He brought his other hand up in a seal and released the secondary illusion, right in time to block a debilitating punch from Kurenai, who now looked genuinely surprised.

"What happened that time?" Anko asked. "He froze up. It looked like she had him." The rest of the jounin were all wondering the same thing. Even Genma looked interested now.

"A double layered illusion," Kurano said. "You activated both genjutsu at the same time so I would think I was only detecting one. Looks like I got careless. Still...that was impressive."

"Say that after I actually get you," Kurenai replied. She then proceeded to bring her hands up in a tiger seal. "Bringer of darkness jutsu," she said, announcing her technique for the first time. Asuma's eyes widened.

"When did she learn how to use that jutsu?" he wondered aloud.

"Which jutsu is that?" Anko asked. "Care to enlighten us?"

"It's an A-ranked genjutsu that was used by the First Hokage. Although it's easy to detect by nature, it's difficult to counter. I don't know how she learned it, but he won't be dispelling that so easily."

Kurano, on his end, was seeing pitch blackness, having been robbed of his sight. His attempts at breaking out of this illusion were currently failing.

"I've never encountered a genjutsu like this before," he admitted out loud. "But it has a glaring weakness. It only manipulates sight, leaving the other senses untouched," he said as he closed his eyes. Kurenai, who was behind him now, didn't rise to the bait, knowing she would just help prove him right if she replied. When she leapt toward him however, he quickly spun around and grabbed her arm, surprising her. In a flash, she was on the ground with her arm pinned behind her back and a kunai pointed at her. Kurenai had been careful though; she had prepared a substitution just in case he had a way around her jutsu. Evidently she had not been paranoid.

The jounin looked stunned at the turn of events. "What were you saying about him not breaking out of that one?" Genma asked.

"He didn't break out of it," Asuma responded, a drop of sweat running down his face. "Look, his eyes are still closed." They soon realized he was right. Kurano was fighting without the use of his eyes.

"Are his other senses that sharp?" Genma wondered aloud. "Kurenai was moving silently."

What Kurano did next was surprising. As the other jounin tried to locate Kurenai, whose chakra control and subsequently her stealth were among the best amongst the gathered jounin, Kurano acted swiftly. Despite his lack of sight he formed a seal, apparently dispelling another genjutsu, and then turned towards the trees where Kurenai thought she was hiding undetected. He unleashed a flurry of wind blades and Kurenai was forced to leap out from her cover, which was promptly shredded by the condensed blasts of air. Asuma in particular watched in interest. This only reinforced his previous theory that the man was a skilled wind release user.

As Kurenai halted her momentum, Kurano was already on her again. Either his senses were far sharper than those of most elite jounin or he using another method of locating her. Kurenai was kept on her toes avoiding his taijutsu strikes, which seemed to have captured the interest of Guy. After she was kicked across the clearing and landed a little less than smoothly, she raised the stakes and used her signature genjutsu, Tree Binding Death. The jounin watched in interest as Kurano froze up for a split second before continuing the pace of the fight as if nothing had happened. Higher level genjutsu did affect him, but he was unnaturally skilled at detecting and dispelling them, which was giving Kurenai a lot of trouble.

The genjutsu specialist threw a few kunai which were casually dodged. "As good as this is for honing my senses, it's time to end this game," the redhead stated. He brought his hands together, and the other jounin felt a massive spike of chakra. For the hokage it would have been a case of deja vu if not for the absence of killing in intent this time.

"Release," Kurano said, before opening his eyes and advancing toward Kurenai again. It was clear to the genjutsu specialist that he had indeed broke out of her A-ranked illusion. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise, along with those of their observers. Kurano had just demonstrated two things: massive chakra reserves that he normally kept dormant, and extremely precise chakra control. The two aspects of his fighting style made an awe inspiring combination, but was very rare. After all, more chakra meant the flow was harder to control. Kurano's feat spoke of intense practice and training in chakra control.

Kurenai was ever more hard pressed to keep up with his taijutsu now that Kurano's sight was back. She soon found herself retreating through use of another substitution, but Kurano was on her again instantly, never letting up. In fact, it seemed like he had known exactly when she would use her sealess substitution, and he didn't even have to observe his surroundings to figure out her next location. This was Kakashi level prowess, but even he wasn't this resistant to her various illusions. It was becoming abundantly clear that she was outmatched.

Before she could use another substitution, Kurano swept her leg and pinned her to the ground with a kunai pressed against her neck. The hokage called the match.

"He's good," Genma commented. The others nodded in agreement. From that showing the man had already made jounin. The rest would be simply for the sake of evaluating his other skills.

"Just out of curiosity, how did you know where I was?" Kurenai asked as she got up.

"Your chakra signature," Kurano answered.

"I'm quite sure I had it well suppressed," Kurenai said.

"You suppress your chakra better than a lot of jounin, but you can't hide it completely," the redhead responded. "Uzumaki sensors are able to pick up on even the slightest chakra signals." Something clicked in Kurenai's head.

"Is that how you were dispelling all of my genjutsu?" she asked. Kurano nodded.

"Detecting foreign chakra as it invades my system is one of the applications."

Hiruzen stepped forward. "That was quite the display Kurano. Your next opponent is Asuma, assuming you still feel fit to continue." The redhead nodded his consent, and Asuma, hearing this, started walking toward the center of the training ground. Kurenai quickly stuck out her hand for Kurano to shake. The latter looked at her in question, but she just smiled back at him. After only a moment's hesitation, he shook it.

As Kurenai rejoined the other jounin, Anko looked at her with a slight pout. "I know I said he was going to be an interesting one, but that doesn't mean you were supposed to lose, Kurenai."

"Sorry Anko," she said as she leaned against a tree. "But I don't think I could beat him even knowing what I do now. I may have been taken by surprise, but he was holding back against me." The rest of them thought about this before it clicked.

"He did say genjutsu wasn't his area of expertise," Genma said.

"So then why did he limit himself to dispelling them and using taijutsu for the most part?" Aoba questioned. "He must have more than that up his sleeve."

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's because that was what he was being tested on," Kurenai answered. "I may be a new jounin, but that was a humbling experience. He beat me without using much ninjutsu, and even the taijutsu he used was done conservatively. I may have stuck to genjutsu, but that's because it's what I do best. I could throw in some ninjutsu myself, but for every ninjutsu I utilize, I use the chakra worth of multiple genjutsu at my disposal, and I'm not as advanced in their usage. That's why I stick to my specialty, in order to create an opening for a decisive blow while minimizing the amount of chakra I use."

"So in other words, you were giving it your all. And we still don't even know what he specializes in...only that he hasn't resorted to it yet," Raido concluded. Kurenai nodded.

Surprisingly, the only jounin not to give his input was Guy, who was watching Kurano intently.

"Well, let's just see what he does next. Asuma actually looks serious, so this should be good," Genma said.

"I thought you weren't interested, Genma," Anko said mockingly. The special jounin ignored her.

"Asuma will test your skills in ninjutsu," Hiruzen said as the bearded man stood across from Kurano. "Whenever both of you are ready, you may begin." With that, he walked out of the way. Asuma pulled out his trench knives and channeled wind chakra through them, increasing their sharpness and attack range. Kurano held his arm out and channeled chakra into a seal on his glove. A black katana appeared in a small puff of smoke in his hand, and soon took on the same visual effect as Asuma's knives as Kurano's chakra flowed through it. Asuma grinned.

"So I was right. You're quite skilled in wind release," he said. Kurano merely shrugged. Asuma came forward, and one of his trench knives clashed with the redhead's chakra conductive sword. They continued to exchange strikes, seemingly even, their arms a mere blur. As most of the special jounin marvelled at the pace of the battle, they both jumped back and started making hand seals.

"Wind release: Vacuum Wave!" Asuma shouted

"Wind release: Vacuum Sphere!" Kurano said in sync. The two wind jutsu clashed, sending large gusts of wind throughout the training ground, much to the displeasure of those watching. But as the two streams of air fought for superiority, Asuma started going through more seals.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" The stream of fire was ignited by the two wind jutsu, and soon Kurano found himself in the center of a raging inferno which quickly engulfed him, much to the shock of their observers.

"Hey, isn't that a little much!?" Aoba shouted.

"Did Asuma get carried away? There won't be much left of him if that hit," Genma commented.

"He's trying to force his hand," Kurenai said. "Kurano is still holding back, and Asuma wants to see what he can do. If he used an attack of that magnitude, then that means he's confident in his opponent's ability to get out unscathed. Still...I don't think he should be taking risks like that."

When the flames cleared, Kurano was nowhere to be seen. All that was left in his place was what looked like a small cloud of vapor. While most of the jounin looked on anxiously, Asuma was paying careful attention to his surroundings. He quickly noticed that a thick shroud of mist was slowly covering the training ground.

"_From the lake?_" he thought as he looked for the source of the vapor. He quickly jumped back to avoid a kunai that was thrown at him through the mist. '_I get it_. _With his sensory abilities, he can easily find me in this mist. Meanwhile, I'm completely blind._'

His assessment was quickly proven correct when a familiar black sword was brought to his neck. "Does this mean I win?" came the redhead's voice.

Asuma smirked. "Not quite," he replied, before vanishing in a puff of smoke, revealing him to be a shadow clone. Kurano soon found himself in the same position Asuma had just been in, with a trench knife pressed against his neck.

"So does this mean your secondary affinity is water?" Asuma asked from behind him, referring to the mist. Kurano hummed.

"Not exactly. Water is my primary," he responded. Asuma's eyes widened at the implication. If Kurano had been matching his wind techniques evenly when it was only his secondary element…

Suddenly Kurano burst into water, and Asuma jumped back on instinct as a wind enhanced kunai hit the ground where he'd been standing. Deciding he'd had enough of this mist, he went through more hand seals. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" he shouted, dispersing the thick veil of water vapor. When it cleared, it was revealed that Kurano had three more clones in the vicinity in addition to his real body, but they were well made and he couldn't tell which was which at the moment. They also seemed to have him surrounded. They all started going through hand seals as Asuma prepared a substitution.

"Water Release: Hydro Blade." they all said. Asuma switched out with one of the clones just in time, and it was brutally delimbed and decapitated by the high speed waves of water. Asuma wasn't familiar with the technique, which meant that either it had been native to Uzushio or his opponent had invented it. The other two clones quickly turned on him, swords drawn and coated in wind chakra. Asuma blocked each one with a trench knife before attempting to kick one in the gut, but the clone blocked the hit. The second one blocked the blows from his trench knife, which surprised him. Usually water clones weren't capable of this level of combat. One of the clones jumped back and started going through hand seals.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet." Asuma went through his own hand signs and met the technique with a Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere, which dissipated the water dragon. The other water clone came in and attempted to cut him down, and Asuma parried the blow and dispelled it with his chakra blade, but another clone rushed in instantly, leaving him with little breathing room. The last one was keeping a distance and sending a continuous barrage of small water bullets at him from the lake. Asuma assumed that he was the real Kurano. It was getting difficult to parry the distance attacks while the clone was trying to slice him up, so he ran passed the clone and went for the original as the clone followed close behind. Asuma began his assault on his target, and was surprised and a little worried when he actually landed a hit with one of his trench knives. That was before his opponent dispersed into water like the other clones.

'_Crap, he's the original isn't he?_' Asuma thought as he turned back to the one that had been fighting him in close quarters. Kurano had misdirected him. Before he could fully react to the revelation, the water from the dispersed clone surrounded him in a dome, which was held by Kurano, and Asuma found himself unable to move a muscle inside the water prison. Once it was clear that he wasn't getting out any time soon, the hokage called the match.

Their observers were quite stunned. Kurano had just subdued two jounin in a row and had yet to even take a debilitating hit. Granted the two jounin hadn't truly been aiming to kill, but the same could be said for him.

As the sphere of water came down around him, Asuma stood up and whistled. "Not just anyone can best me in ninjutsu. You're not someone I'd like to have as an enemy."

Kurano shrugged again. "You weren't giving it your all. Many shinobi tend to hold back or let their guard down during spars amongst allies. I'm just not one of them."

Asuma nodded in acceptance. He really hadn't been as careful as he would have been out in the field, but it just wasn't in his nature to go all out in a spar. As he walked away, he thought back to what he had heard Kurano say previously. _I don't have the luxury of comrades._ It was possible that the former Uzushio shinobi had some trust issues. People like that didn't tend to let their guard down often, even in front of 'allies,' as he had put it. Suddenly Asuma wondered how much social interaction Kurano was used to. He wasn't socially awkward. Not really. But he definitely wasn't an extrovert either. Pushing those thoughts away for now, he focused on the next match. Upon being called, Guy was standing across from Kurano in a heartbeat, and most of the jounin groaned.

Guy had that look on his face. Godspeed, Kurano.

If the hokage was worried, he didn't show it. After making sure that Kurano was ready to continue, he gave the signal to begin.

Predictably, Guy made the first move. His opening kick was blocked by Kurano's forearm, and the two immediately launched into a chain of punches, kicks, blocks, sweeps, and even body flickers. To any lesser ninja the movements of the two would be mere blurs, but the gathered shinobi were all ranked special jounin or above. Even so, it was quite the display. Their 'spar' seemed to occupy the entire clearing as they repeatedly leapt away to gain distance only to re-engage and try to gain an advantage. True to his prior pattern, Kurano was sticking to taijutsu this time.

"Does anyone recognize that taijutsu style?" Genma suddenly asked. Raidou and Aoba shook their heads immediately while the rest gave it some more thought.

"Nope," Anko finally said. "Doesn't look familiar."

"It seems effective, but I haven't seen it either," Asuma replied.

"It could be a style that was lost along with Uzushio," Kurenai supplied. From what they could tell, the style seemed to focus on circular and highly fluid movements. Each move flowed naturally into the next and came together into a very well rounded combination of unpredictable techniques. They found they were having constant difficulty predicting his next move, seeing as there was no definitive pattern to his attacks. It all seemed very freeform and dependent on circumstance. It spoke to Guy's own taijutsu mastery that he was keeping up and even gaining a slight advantage.

The flow of the battle seemed to shift in Kurano's favor, however, as he executed a well timed wind release body flicker that obscured his movements perfectly. Guy was a bit delayed in locating him, and as a result, his block came a tad too late. Kurano capitalized on the advantage and kept pressure on the green clad jounin, which only seemed to spur Guy on more. The taijutsu master executed his own body flicker, which Kurano was quick to match, and the two clashed again in the middle of the clearing. There was a fundamental difference in this exchange, however. Kurano's blinked in surprise as he was shoved off balance by the sheer force of the blow. Guy started to barrage him with additional blows that he was now hard pressed to keep up with. Their observers could guess why; Guy had just opened the first gate.

Kurano was now taking a few blows here and there, and although he didn't outwardly show it, everyone could tell they were painful and would leave bruises. Evidently having enough of that, he used another body flicker to create some distance. Guy soon followed him, but to everyone's shock, the taijutsu specialist was repelled and had to regain his balance. The jounin noted that the chakra surrounding Kurano was now slightly visible. The Uzumaki hadn't just responded in turn to the higher stakes; he had one-upped Guy.

"Second gate, Gate of Healing, release," Kurano said with a slight smirk before charging at his opponent. Now it was Guy's turn to struggle keeping up as his adversary's speed and strength pulled ahead. Their observers were now having a lot of trouble following their movements as they blurred back and forth through the training grounds.

"He can open the gates too?" Asuma asked in amusement. "He sure is talented."

"I think he just made a big mistake though," Kurenai said with a hint of worry. The rest of them soon agreed with her as Guy's chakra levels skyrocketed.

"Fourth gate, Gate of Pain, release!" he shouted as his skin turned red from the increased blood flow throughout his body. His chakra was clearly visible as it swirled around him. Kurano stared at him, eyes slightly wide.

"This is just a first impression mind you, but are you insane?" the Uzumaki asked right before Guy rocketed towards him. To his credit, he managed to dodge the first blow. The second...well, the second gave him a one way trip across the clearing. The third sent him back the other way as Guy had actually gotten behind him. The fourth turned him into a log since he used a substitution to get the hell out of there. As Guy readied his next assault, Kurano spoke.

"I forfeit." Guy stared at him dumbly as what he said sunk in.

"Um...what?" he asked. Kurano rubbed his head lazily. Their observers could see he was covered in bruises, but that he had managed to avoid getting hit anywhere too important. "Well shit," he said. "I could try to outlast you by playing a defensive game, but somehow I get the feeling that you can keep that up for a while. It also wouldn't surprise me if you could open more. I myself can only open two, so I'd have to be an idiot to think I could match you in pure taijutsu. So that's that. Have fun with your sore muscles." With that, he waved and walked away. Hiruzen watched him in overt amusement as Guy looked on in disappointment before collapsing into a sitting position. He hadn't used the fourth gate for very long, but it still had its drawbacks.

"Well that was...interesting," Kurenai said, slightly exasperated.

The rest of them agreed full heartedly. They all wondered what changes Konoha's newest jounin would bring about.

* * *

A/N: So I finally updated this. Sorry for the wait. Updates will be inconsistent for now though, so don't expect constant chapters yet.


	4. Amplified Training Regimen

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Chapter IV: Amplified Training Regimen **

Naruto grinned in excitement when he heard the door to his apartment open. He quickly raced to the door to be met with the sight of his new roommate covered in bruises. His grin faltered to be replaced by a worried look.

"Kurano-nii...are you alright?" he asked apprehensively. To his relief, his relative just grinned, indicating that it wasn't something to fuss over.

"Rank evaluations just got a little out of hand. You should see the other guy," was the redhead's response. Naruto had stars in his eyes.

"You mean he looked worse?" the blonde asked with an awed voice.

"Well yea…" Kurano replied. "But that wasn't my doing." Naruto looked confused, but Kurano decided to drop the issue.

"So did you make jounin?" the boy asked excitedly, ever true to his short attention span.

"Beats me," Kurano responded nonchalantly. Naruto blinked.

"So the old man hasn't decided yet?" he asked curiously.

"He probably has…" Kurano said noncommittally. When he didn't elaborate, Naruto looked at him expectantly, and he rubbed his head a bit sheepishly. "I kind of walked out before the result was announced," he admitted.

Naruto's face lit up again. "That's so cool, aniki! I should have done that on my graduation exam!" Kurano raised an eyebrow.

"You mean the one that you failed," he clarified.

"Yea, that one!"

Kurano burst out laughing. "That's somethin' else kid. But since we're on the subject, I've been meaning to ask. How'd you do in the academy?"

Naruto suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Alright...I guess…" he replied. Kurano read him like a book.

"So failing is just what everyone does?" he asked playfully. Naruto deflated.

"I was kinda...maybe...sorta...the dead last," he said. Kurano looked amused.

"Kinda maybe sorta?"

"Ok, I was the dead last," Naruto said, crossing his arms and pouting.

"I see. Well, don't let it get ya down. Your academy scores hold little bearing in the real world, assuming you don't die from lack of basic skills while you're a genin."

Naruto looked up at him in surprise. "But my teachers always said that mastering the basics and doing well in the academy was key to becoming a successful ninja."

"Of course they did," Kurano replied. "Do you expect them to tell academy students that their grades will mean next to nothing in the long run? No one would take it seriously if they did that." Naruto thought about this for a moment and found that he couldn't disagree. Everyone would act like Shikamaru if Iruka sensei ever said something like that. Hey, could that be why Shikamaru didn't bother? Maybe he knew what Kurano was saying already?

"So then you're saying the basics aren't important?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"Of course they are," Kurano said, confusing him more. "Look at it this way," the redhead began. "Let's say we represented the skills of a rookie genin, fresh out of the academy, with a score of 15. Now let's say a more experienced genin had a score of 30. One who passes the chunin exams and ranks up has a score of 45, a jounin has a score of 100, and finally, a kage has a score of 250. Now, let's say the dead last of the academy who somehow graduated had a score of 10 as opposed to the average 15. How many points behind is he?"

"5…" Naruto answered, still frowning. When one put it that way, it sounded like his achievements up until now were insignificant, although he knew that wasn't the point of what he was being told.

"Right," Kurano said. "Which means starting now, you have to make up 5 points out of the eventual 240, whereas the competition has to gain 235. So while you may be behind for now, it will hardly make a difference if you're gunning for hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened. "You really think I can become hokage?" he asked quietly.

"I don't just think you can. I expect you to," Kurano clarified. "You're an Uzumaki kid, and you're my responsibility now. I won't accept anything less than your absolute best."

Naruto's eyes were shining.

"Of course, the numbers that I gave you weren't really accurate to begin with. You may have struggled in the academy, but I have my own theories as to why. If I had to guess, I'd say you're significantly stronger than the average rookie genin. Are there any in your class that you don't think you can beat right now?" he asked.

Naruto thought for a moment. "Well, Sakura-chan hits really hard, so I wouldn't want to fight her. I'm pretty sure I could take Ino. Chouji is good, but I should be able to get him with my shadow clones. Sometimes I think Shikamaru would be really tough to beat if he wasn't so lazy. There's also Hinata...I'm not sure what to think of her. She seems harmless, but sometimes I feel like she holds back in spars. Shino's a mystery, so I'm not confident I could beat him. And as much as I hate to admit it, Kiba would probably beat me." He grimaced. "And then there's Sasuke-teme." Normally he might boast that he could take them all, but he had already decided not to wear his mask in front of Kurano. He would be honest.

"So there are 6 you're not confident about beating," Kurano concluded. "Well, we can't have that. How long until you get sorted into a squad?"

"Um...I think Iruka-sensei said a month," Naruto recited from memory.

"Alright, tell you what. You spend the next month training all day, every day, and assuming you don't call it quits by the end, I'll turn you into the strongest rookie genin in Konoha," Kurano said with a smirk, causing Naruto's eyes to widen.

"You mean you're going to train me!?" he asked excitedly.

"Well...yea. Of course. Since apparently I'm your aniki now, I have a duty to help you realize your potential," Kurano replied.

"But...isn't that cheating? You're really strong Kurano-nii." This caused the redhead to laugh.

"I appreciate the blind faith! You haven't even seen me fight kid. And there's no cheating in the ninja world. You use whatever advantage is available to you. Remember that. Besides, a lot of upcoming ninja get additional training from relatives. Children of clan heads especially."

"Cool! So when do we start?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Right now. We won't get into the intense training until tomorrow, but I should have time to show you what you'll be doing every day."

On the way to the training grounds, Naruto fired off a series of questions about the training they'd be doing, but Kurano simply told him to wait until they got there. Naruto thought he seemed distracted by something. Before they arrived, he turned toward the trees and spoke.

"Can I help you, Anbu-san?" he asked, much to Naruto's confusion. At first there was no response, but then a masked Konoha shinobi emerged from the trees. If he was startled upon being found, his mask hid the emotion. The anbu walked up to Kurano and held out a Konoha headband, which he took with an unapologetic smile.

"Jounin," was all the anbu said before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Kurano thought he almost sounded annoyed, but it was hard to tell.

When they arrived at the training ground, Naruto turned to Kurano impatiently and asked what he was going to learn first, before putting forth his own speculations, which ranged from improbable to outright ludicrous. Kurano cut him off by leaking a portion of his killing intent, in response to which Naruto doubled over mid-sentence and started retching on the ground as if he was going to throw up. He may have done so, had the pressure on him not suddenly lifted as if it was never there. He knelt on the ground, gasping for breath.

"W-what...the hell...was _that_?" he gasped once he could speak again.

"_That _was killing intent," Kurano replied calmly. "It's a weapon that high level ninja can use passively. It's used by letting your negative emotions leak out into your chakra as you exude it. The result is that your intent to kill will actually permeate the air." Kurano sat down and motioned for Naruto to get comfortable before continuing.

"The first thing you're going to be doing is getting used to the effects of killing intent. From your reaction, I can tell this isn't taught in the Konoha academy. I for one, think that's stupid. Anyone who isn't at least somewhat resistant to it is doomed to freeze up on their first encounter with real shinobi. That can get you killed. After all, it doesn't matter what kind of awesome techniques you learn if your opponent can trip you up just by spiking their chakra."

Naruto was listening intently. He never knew that such a thing existed, much less that it was a common thing to use in battle. "So then," Kurano said. "Can you think of a possible flaw in this training regimen?"

Naruto blinked. "Flaw?" he asked.

"That's right," Kurano confirmed. "A flaw, as in something that would hamper the effects of the training. Can you think of a reason why this might not prepare you for the real thing?"

Naruto thought hard. He wasn't used to his instructors challenging him with all these practical questions. Even Iruka sensei usually just stuck to the curriculum. "Is it because I won't be resisting its effects while fighting?" he guessed.

"Good guess, but not quite," Kurano said. "By the end of the month I plan to have you fighting me while I radiate my intent to kill. I'll give you another hint. What's the fundamental difference between me and any enemy ninja that you come across on a mission?"

Naruto's face scrunched up in concentration. After a while his eyes lit up in realization. "You don't really want to kill me…" he said.

"Bingo. Since I'm proficient in the use of killing intent, I can falsify my intent to kill if need be. But it's still not like the real thing, because to put it simply, I don't harbour any negative emotions towards you. You're not my enemy after all. So at best I can simulate the killing intent of a higher level chunin. If you ever came across a jounin level ninja who actually wanted to kill you, you'd have a much tougher time resisting his killing intent," Kurano explained before getting up. "But with that said, don't think of killing intent as a pure advantage. Some ninja who can't control their emotions well end up giving away their locations or even their next move because they leak a bit of it without trying to. So always keep that in mind."

Naruto nodded earnestly as he got up. He was getting used to the fact that Kurano actually planned on putting his full effort into teaching him. Iruka-sensei did the same thing of course, but the man had a full class to teach and couldn't play favorites. It was hard to rationalize that he practically had a private tutor. A few days ago, the thought alone would make him scoff.

"Now then," Kurano began again. "I've thought up a training schedule for you. As I said, you're going to be training all day every day. We'll wake up at 8 am and eat breakfast before coming to this training ground, where we'll practice taijutsu until 10. After that, we'll practice chakra control for another two hours. At 12, we'll eat lunch. At 1 pm, we'll practice ninjutsu. At 3, we'll practice genjutsu. At 4, we'll get you started on sealing, and at 5, I'm going to see if you have any aptitude for chakra sensory. At 6 we'll eat dinner, and after that we'll work on your survival skills. Oh, and by the way, I'll be using killing intent on you at random intervals during the day, until you learn to ignore it. Any questions?"

"That seems like a strict schedule…" Naruto commented.

"Well, I'm not gonna lie to you kid. Right now, you're a mess. I know I said you're grades don't reflect your actual skill, but as of now the only thing that puts you ahead of some of your peers is your large amounts of chakra and subsequently, your ability to make shadow clones. Don't worry though. By the time I'm done with you you'll have a lot more than that at your disposal."

"About that...what is sealing? You mentioned I'd be learning it," Naruto said.

Kurano thought for a moment. "To oversimplify it, sealing is the process of producing a desired effect by applying one's chakra to ink on paper."

"So what kind of things can you do with it?"

"Well, the short answer is...anything. From storage, to barriers, to enhancement of jutsu, and even the manipulation of spacetime...well, an easier question is what _can't_ you do with sealing. Unlike taijutsu, which is limited by your body, and ninjutsu, which is limited by your chakra, sealing is limited only by your imagination and creativity. It takes a specific type of mindset to master sealing. A very rare type of mindset I might add. It's not about logic, or even recognizing a pattern. It's called the most difficult shinobi discipline because there's really no way to rationalize the art of sealing. You have to _feel_ it. Luckily, I'm a seal master, so there won't be an issue as far as your teacher goes. But if it turns out you don't have a knack for sealing, there's not much that can be done about it."

"Sealing sounds cool...I can really do anything if I master it?" Naruto asked.

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, Naruto, I want to know how many shadow clones you can make."

Naruto scratched his head. "How many? I've never really tried making as many as I could...but I think I made over a hundred when I first learned the technique."

"Over a hundred huh?" Kurano asked. Inwardly he was grinning madly. This kid was any instructor's dream and he didn't even realize it. "Alright Naruto. I want to try something that should help with your training. Can you make a shadow clone?" Naruto obliged, but when he tried to make one, 3 clones popped up. He rubbed his head sheepishly, but Kurano just laughed and dispelled 2 of them. "Alright then, turn around for a moment," he told the original. Confused, Naruto did so. A few seconds later, his clone dispelled, and Naruto grimaced before an outraged expression emerged on his face. He turned to Kurano indignantly.

"That was low, Kurano-nii!" he shouted. Kurano looked at him innocently.

"What was?" he asked in mock confusion.

"You kicked me in my family jewels!"

"I did? How would you know that?"

"Because I saw you!" Naruto blinked. "Wait, _what_?" Kurano laughed again.

"Thought so. You haven't realized the true beauty of the technique you've learned, Naruto. One of the most useful applications of this technique is for training, thanks to the relay of information."

"Relay of information?" Naruto repeated. Kurano nodded.

"Basically, whenever one of your clones dispels, anything that the clone learned while active is relayed back to you. This has many uses. You could send a clone into an enemy base under a transformation to learn as much as you could. Even if the clone got killed, you'd have learned something about the enemy and they wouldn't even know what you looked like. Alternatively, if you want to know more about an enemy shinobi's abilities during a fight, you can send a clone in to attack and observe how they fight. That's the thing about shadow clones; they're expendable, yet extremely effective. Granted they're not very efficient because of the high chakra cost, but you've got high reserves Naruto. So I fully plan on putting those clones of yours to use in augmenting your training."

"But how will that help with my training?" Naruto asked.

"Well, just imagine that everything you learn in a day is multiplied by ten. That's the effect of having ten shadow clones training for a day. After they dispel, you learn everything they learned, and it's as if you've been training for ten days."

Naruto's eyes widened. "But if I'm going to be training for a month…" he trailed off. Kurano was amused as he could practically see the gears turning in his head.

"It would be like training for a year," he confirmed.

Naruto was giddy with excitement. "So what if I trained with a hundred clones? Would that be like training for 10 years!?"

Kurano chuckled. "Again, don't get ahead of yourself. Even if your reserves are high, there's no way you'll be able to keep up a hundred clones while doing intensive training for over 10 hours straight. Even if the clones didn't run out of chakra and dispel, which they will, you'd suffer from memory overload from having three months worth of memories shoved into a day."

Naruto pouted. He should have known that would be too good to be true.

"But still, even a fraction of that amount will be invaluable," Kurano continued. "From how much chakra you expended making those clones the other day, I can tell that your chakra control needs some serious work. With the amount of chakra you're wasting making clones right now, you won't be able to maintain as many clones as you would otherwise. So that's why I'm starting you off with 10. By the time we're done with this training, it should be double that amount, since you'll also gradually get used to the influx of memories. Now, the first thing we'll do is test your taijutsu. Start with whatever style you know and let's see what you've got."

Naruto immediately went into his academy style stance, giddy with anticipation, and Kurano raised an eyebrow. He gave the stance a once over, before reaching out with his hand and applying light pressure to his student's shoulder. Naruto immediately stumbled.

"Holy crap kid, were you planning to use that style on a mission? Because there are about five ways that even any genin could poke a hole in that stance. It's almost like you're _trying_ to get yourself killed."

Naruto flushed in embarrassment. He had already learned that Kurano was nothing if not blunt. "But that's the way the academy taught me!" he protested. Kurano looked surprised. "You learned that at the…" he trailed off, before his gaze hardened. "Naruto, who taught you that stance?" he asked quietly. Naruto was oblivious to the not so well hidden ire.

"It was Mizuki-sen-" he froze, before his eyes widened and his fists clenched. _That bastard._

* * *

A/N: Finally, we get into Naruto's training. I'm guessing everyone could predict that Kurano was going to train him. No surprises there.


	5. All in a Day's Work

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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**Chapter V: All in a Day's Work**

Naruto jumped out of his slumber and fell out of bed with a yelp. Immediately scrambling to his feet, his first thought was to wonder why he was so wet, before realizing that Kurano was standing in front of him with a poorly concealed expression of amusement on his face. He was holding a now empty bucket.

"What was that for, aniki!?" he yelled in his morning haze.

"What? I said to be up at 8 am. You were still in bed, so I had to wake you up," Kurano defended.

"Why didn't you just say my name or shake me awake…?"

"That wouldn't get the message across. You'd just forget to set your alarm again," Kurano said. "And besides, you wouldn't be likely to fall out of bed that way, a reaction which I find entertaining."

Naruto glared at him halfheartedly.

"Well then, get up. It's breakfast time," his surrogate older brother said, walking out of the room and ignoring his ire, which was quelled the thought of food anyway. Kurano had gone shopping the previous day, so Naruto now had an abundance of ingredients to work with, as opposed to the cup ramen he was accustomed to. He instantly welcomed the change the previous night when he learned what it was like to have a homemade dinner with a family member. He was eager to have that experience again, and it helped that Kurano was a surprisingly good cook. He had thought about why that was, before remembering what Kurano had said about living off the land. He would have to possess skill at sustaining himself living that kind of life.

The scrambled eggs, bacon, and oatmeal that Kurano had prepared served as a full meal that Naruto would not be forgetting for the duration of his life. It only spoke to how much more precious something was when you've never had it before. It was sinking in more and more every day, the simple, yet indomitably profound fact that he had family now.

* * *

After breakfast Kurano led him back to the training grounds, where they continued working on his taijutsu. The previous day when Naruto had revealed his suspicion that one of his senseis had been sabotaging his academy training, Kurano had been livid. He had asked in a deceptively calm tone where this _Mizuki-sensei _was now. Naruto had nervously gone into an explanation of the incident that had occurred on the day Kurano had arrived in Konoha, which had done little to placate him, but he had nevertheless taken a deep breath and calmed down upon hearing that the traitor had been apprehended. Naruto still wasn't sure what to make of the muttering of _'So that's why T&amp;I was so lively.' _that had come from his surrogate brother afterwards.

Kurano had then made it clear to him that if he ever felt he was being mistreated by his fellow Konoha shinobi due to his status, he was to report the situation to either him or the hokage, preferably both. Naruto had consented, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

Afterwards though, Kurano had told him that it was no big loss, since he was basically a blank slate when it came to taijutsu, which made it that much easier for Kurano to teach him the style that he used himself, which he called the _Uzuken_.

He had started out showing him some basic forms and movements and telling him to try them out, which he did. Kurano had been forced to correct him multiple times for each stance, much to his discouragement. After he tried to copy a more basic form and failed for the third time, Kurano hummed and walked behind him, before manually adjusting his stance and the position of his arms with a few tweaks, before telling him to remember how that felt. Once Naruto had confirmed that he had committed the position to memory, Kurano had him do it again, and was satisfied with the result. He proceeded to show him a few more forms, adjusting his body into the correct position each time, until, much to his amusement, Naruto was memorizing the forms on his first or second try every time.

"Is something funny?" Naruto asked in bewilderment.

"Nah," Kurano replied. "It's just I should have done this to begin with. It turns out you're a kinesthetic learner, like me. In other words, you learn best by trying things out yourself, not by listening to instruction or watching demonstrations. That's probably one reason why you had trouble in the academy. Kinesthetic learners aren't that bad at visual learning, but it's especially hard for them to learn a concept just by reading from a scroll. I'm guessing you were naturally disinclined from that." Seeing Naruto's sheepish nod, he grinned. "But believe it or not, that's going to be an advantage for the training we'll be doing, since I don't plan on having you reading from a scroll. Now, make 10 shadow clones."

Naruto concentrated, but when he used the technique, he ended up making 12 this time. Kurano dispelled two of them. "So basically, since I learn best by doing things myself, this training will help me more because I'll be doing them with my clones too?" Naruto asked.

"Exactly," Kurano responded, before making a hand seal and creating 10 water clones, much to Naruto's awe.

"You can make solid clones too!" he exclaimed.

"I can," Kurano confirmed. "But these are just water clones. Unlike shadow clones, which are formed from pure chakra, these are formed by infusing water with my chakra to create a clone of myself from the water vapor in the air. As a result, the chakra cost is less, but they aren't as powerful or as intelligent as shadow clones. I can also make water release shadow clones, which are made of pure chakra that's been enhanced by my water affinity, but those aren't really needed for this session. Now for the next hour and a half, we're going to practice these forms along with our clones until you can get the hang of them."

Naruto soon learned that this 'practice' basically consisted of Kurano's clones knocking him onto his ass until he learned how to implement the forms fluently in combat without having to think about it. Each clones worked on a different aspect of the fighting style. By the time they dispelled two hours later, Naruto was covered in dirt from head to toe, but was otherwise no worse for the wear. Once they dispelled however, he was surprised by the influx of memories that rounded his understanding of the form he was being taught. He now felt he had a solid grasp of the first lesson, and was starting to feel like he had a basic understanding of what it meant to fight with the Uzuken.

After that they worked on chakra control. While Naruto was curious about what this would entail, he was not expecting Kurano to take him into the forest and tell him to start climbing trees without his hands. Upon seeing his confused look, he quickly explained that the feet were the hardest part of the body to focus chakra to, and that if he learned to focus chakra to the soles of his feet well enough so that he could stick to the tree, his chakra control would improve drastically, allowing him to use chakra more effectively and efficiently in a battle, for both taijutsu and ninjutsu.

Hearing this, Naruto eagerly ran toward the tree, only to be repelled on the first step when his foot caved in the bark of the tree, causing him to stumble and fall back onto the ground. He scowled, and Kurano laughed at his expense before telling him why it happened. "If you use too much chakra, it will push you off, but if you don't use enough, you won't stick. The key is finding the balance between the two." Kurano then told him to make another 10 clones. He made 11, and, in his frustration, dispelled the excess one himself this time, much to Kurano's amusement.

Kurano then had them all trying to climb trees at once, which was a comical sight to say the least. He had specifically instructed Naruto not to put too much chakra in the clones for this exercise, and Naruto now saw why as the clones fell off the trees in droves, dispelling themselves when they hit the ground. He was having to make new clones every 5 minutes at the rate things were going.

By the time noon came around, Naruto was hungry and slightly tired. Marking his way with a kunai, he had managed to make his way a fourth of the way up the tree due to the experience he gained from his clones constantly dispelling, but it had started to take its toll on him. When he dispelled the remaining clones, he tried one more time, and made it a third of the way up. He grimaced. He'd been hoping to make it all the way to the top. Kurano assured him that he'd made very good progress though.

* * *

When Kurano asked where Naruto wanted to go for lunch, he immediately decided on Ichiraku's. Kurano consented, but mentioned that he'd need more variety in his diet from now on if he wanted to improve his physique. Naruto hesitated, before reluctantly telling him that he wasn't allowed in most of the village's restaurants. Kurano had put on a false smile and said that he didn't think it would be much of a problem anymore. That confused Naruto, but his older brother figure didn't elaborate.

They arrived at Ichiraku's to be greeted enthusiastically by Teuchi and Ayame, who both recognized Kurano as Naruto's relative who they had met a couple days ago. This elicited a noticeably warm welcome from the two, which surprised the redhead. He assumed that Naruto was probably a regular customer here, and was therefore well liked by the owners, who had now risen a few levels in his eyes. He guessed that they were part of the reason why Naruto hadn't gone made over the years, and whether or not they knew it, Kurano was grateful to them for that. Teuchi must have noticed him staring, because he turned towards him, and as if he could tell what he was thinking, gave him a sad smile and a nearly imperceptible nod, the latter of which Kurano returned.

Kurano quickly learned that when it came to Ichiraku ramen, Naruto and restraint didn't get along well. He grimaced as he observed the nearly empty pouch that he called his wallet. Despite his previous lifestyle, he did have savings from doing various jobs when he wandered from place to place, but he didn't want to use them all up treating Naruto to ramen of all things. He had already requested a month's time to get situated from the hokage, but the elderly man had seen through him easily and merely wished him good luck with the training, prompting Kurano to roll his eyes and mumble a thanks. Unfortunately, this meant that he had no steady income during the month long duration in which he'd be training Naruto. Perhaps he should do some D-rank missions every night. He couldn't see them taking very long.

* * *

After lunch, they got started on ninjutsu training. Kurano told Naruto to make his 10 shadow clones. Using the technique, Naruto made 10 exactly, much to the boy's pleasure. Kurano commented that the chakra control training was already paying off, keeping to himself the fact that choosing the number of clones to make was a rudimentary skill at best.

"Naruto, do you know why you were unable to make a simple illusionary clone, but were successful in learning the shadow clone jutsu?" he asked to start of their lesson.

Naruto thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "Because shadow clones are cooler and I wanted to learn them more?" he offered.

Kurano sweatdropped. "Um, not quite. It has to do with the amount of chakra you have. To put it bluntly, you have too much chakra to use the E rank clone jutsu with a genin's level of chakra control."

"But shouldn't having more chakra help me?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"It will when you are using techniques that require a lot of chakra," Kurano replied. "But in the case of the clone jutsu, the amount of chakra needed for each clone is very little. Not only that, but unlike the substitution, where the amount of chakra used can improve the distance travelled, in the case of the clone jutsu, more chakra only helps with making more clones. If you had used a small amount of chakra and divided it up to make several clones, you probably would have had more success with the technique. But I'm guessing what you did was pour what felt like a reasonable amount of your chakra into a couple clones, which with your reserves, would have overloaded the jutsu and rendered your clones ineffective."

Naruto looked mortified. "So all I had to do was make more clones?" Why didn't anyone tell me!?" Kurano sighed.

"I won't lie to you Naruto. From what you told me earlier, if I had to guess, I'd say that your specific situation caused the academy instructors to not pay as much attention to you as they should have. Would you say that sounds accurate?"

Naruto nodded slowly. "They usually ignored me when I raised my hand, and just asked me why I didn't get it like everyone else when I asked a question," he admitted quietly.

Although he'd been expecting it, Kurano had to keep from leaking out killing intent after hearing that. "On top of that," he began instead, "Your chakra reserves are frankly absurd for the level you're at in this phase of your development. Even the instructors that payed the right amount of attention to you likely wouldn't have known that you had far too much chakra to use some simpler techniques effectively. Don't dwell on it though; you're here now, and that's what matters." Naruto nodded in determination.

"Good. Now the first jutsu I'm going to teach you is the body flicker. It's a D-rank, but it's one of the most useful techniques you'll learn in the long run. It allows you to invigorate your body using chakra to drastically increase your speed. Jounin level ninja use this technique fluidly and successively in a fight in order to keep up with their opponents, but even for a genin it could provide a crucial advantage if timed right."

"But how do I increase my speed using chakra?" Naruto asked.

"The same way you used it to climb trees," Kurano responded. "In that exercise you focused a small amount of chakra to your feet to maintain a balance that would keep you on the tree. This time, spread the chakra evenly throughout your legs, but don't consciously limit the amount of chakra you use. With your degree of control, you won't be able to send as much as a jounin would, but your high reserves will only help you with this technique. The more chakra you send to your legs, the faster you will be able to move, and the longer you sustain the flow, the longer you will be able to use the technique, which is useful for long distance travel. Most chunin level ninja use a milder version of the body flicker while traveling to increase their pace without tiring themselves out. The body flicker is not only useful as a speed technique, it's also a good way to grasp the concept of using chakra to enhance your body. Ready to give it a shot?"

Naruto nodded eagerly. Kurano told him to try to body flicker across the clearing. Naruto focused a large amount of chakra to his legs and did so...and tripped over himself, landing face first onto the ground at high speed. Kurano winced before using the technique himself to come check on his student, who was dazed and had a slight bruise on his face. "Ok...that could have gone better. It seems like you just have to learn to control your movements better and react to your surroundings when you're going at that speed. At least the technique worked. Why don't we have your clones work on it while you recover from whatever the hell that was?"

Naruto looked up at Kurano's mocking grin and glared.

After an hour of practicing the body flicker, Kurano had Naruto dispel his clones once again. Afterwards he tried using the body flicker, but he could only perform it at a relatively low speed. If he tried to go any faster, he'd lose control or crash into something due to tunnel vision. Kurano said it was a good start, and that they'd work on it more the next day. When Naruto asked what they'd work on now, he took out a small piece of paper and told Naruto to channel chakra into it. He did so, and was startled when the piece of paper split in half down the middle.

"Hmm, wind huh? That's a surprise. I thought it'd be water. I wonder if you got that from me? Seems unlikely," Kurano muttered to himself.

"Uh, sorry, what does wind have to do with anything?" Naruto asked.

"Wind is your elemental affinity," Kurano replied. That paper has the property of conducting elemental chakra, so when you channel your chakra, which has the innate property of wind, the paper was cut down the middle. A wind affinity is very versatile. It can be used for short, mid, and long ranged encounters, and it's considered the best affinity to have for short range. With the right ninja channeling some wind chakra into a weapon, even the toughest of defenses can be breached. But with that said, learning elemental jutsu is extremely difficult. It takes years for a ninja to master their elemental affinity...usually. But with your clones dividing up the work, I plan to get you started on using wind jutsu by the end of the month."

"It will take that long?" Naruto asked, bewildered.

"Perhaps longer," Kurano admitted. "Half the battle in learning to harness your affinity is being able to convert your chakra into your specific element. Luckily, I happen to know the process of learning how to harness wind chakra, since I did it myself." He plucked a leaf from a nearby tree. "The first step is to cut this leaf with just your chakra. Unlike the paper, it doesn't conduct chakra, so this will be much harder. Make 10 more clones and have each of them grab a leaf, and then get to it."

For the next hour, Naruto tried desperately to cut the leaf with his chakra, with little success. No matter how much chakra he channeled, he couldn't cut the leaf at all. Kurano mentioned that he had to visualize his chakra as a thin, razor edged blade. He tried that too, but it didn't help that much. He was mortified when, at the end of the session, he dispelled his clones and was only able to make a small cut in the leaf, about half a centimeter long.

Kurano gave him no time to sulk, however, and got him started on genjutsu practice. Or more accurately, he got him started on learning to recognize and escape genjutsu, seeing as he predictably had no talent for creating them, and Kurano outright admitted that he wasn't good at using them and therefore wouldn't make for a good teacher. The next hour consisted of Kurano showing him repeatedly how to break a genjutsu only for him to struggle to escape from the D-rank that Kurano was using. Even with the help of his clones, by the end of the hour, he still couldn't dispel the Mist Servant Jutsu that his instructor was using.

Sealing had better results. To Kurano's surprise, Naruto was able to put together some basic storage seals on his first few tries. It took him a little while to get them working, but he still took to it faster than the redhead had expected, even if he was an Uzumaki. By the time they finished, he was able to make storage scrolls without fail.

In contrast, chakra sensing barely yielded any results at all. Kurano practically had to flare his chakra intentionally for Naruto to be able to sense it, which would not be practical on a mission in the slightest. Even sensing civilians and bandits, neither of which could spike their chakra, would be a dead end at this rate. Kurano could only hope that would change. He had no doubts Naruto would be able to sense chakra eventually, but being a natural sensor like himself was a different story altogether.

Satisfied with the day's results, Kurano called it a day, and the two headed back home to eat dinner and discuss what they needed to work on.


	6. Beginning of a Legend

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Chapter VI: Beginning of a Legend**

The rest of the month seemed to pass by quickly for Naruto, which seemed ironic considering that he was essentially experiencing his waking hours ten times over. Despite the initial day of reprieve, if one could call it that, Kurano made good on his promise to keep Naruto on his toes with spikes of killing intent while he worked. At first it would constantly interrupt him in whatever endeavor he was attempting, but as the hours turned into days and the days turned into weeks and a month was amplified into a year, he was gradually able to ignore the potency of his instructor's broadcasted false intentions. This victory was soon nullified by the fact that once he found that Naruto was able to somewhat hold himself together under it, Kurano began attacking him after every spike of killing intent to ensure that his immediate reaction on a mission would be to actually _react_ to the enemy instead of ignoring them.

Naruto wasn't sure he could describe Kurano's training methods to someone if he tried. The man wasn't exactly brutal, per se, but he was certainly a slave driver. Unlike Iruka-sensei, who was satisfied once he did something within an acceptable range of success, Kurano's expectations only seemed to _increase _every time he did something right. He would congratulate Naruto for finally achieving a technique he'd been struggling with, or for completing an exercise faster than he had before, only to then start a discussion on how he could take the accomplishment even further and improve beyond his current limitations. Then he'd give Naruto a new goal and they'd be back to square one. He wasn't cruel, or even overly demanding most of the time. In accordance with his statement before the training started, he simply expected Naruto to give one hundred percent of what he had, and this was something that the aspiring young ninja found to be far easier than it had been in the academy. There were no double standards, no biases or underhanded agendas against him. Simply perform to the absolute best of your ability, and you succeed.

How could a method of teaching that was so simple yet so effective have eluded him until now? Every time he would look into his surrogate brother's eyes, which seemed to say, "Give me your all, and you will never disappoint," his own would be filled with a raw fire of determination that wouldn't be extinguished by any water ninjutsu that Kurano could throw his way.

And even Naruto could tell that the training was bearing fruit. His taijutsu was improving to the point where Naruto wondered how he had ever followed the advice of his traitorous sensei, despite not knowing of his intentions at the time. The Uzuken seemed to fit him like a glove, although Naruto wasn't sure if this was because the style was more natural for him, or because of the change in tutelage. Kurano had done what had seemed impossible. He had taken what had been a mysterious and cryptic art for Naruto and explained it in a way that made sense. Not through verbal means, or even through demonstration, but through hands on experience. Every incorrect stance or wayward limb was instantly corrected, not by simply telling him to change it like some of his more reasonable instructors at the academy had done, but by directly showing him why what he was doing wouldn't work. The method was more painful and ever more humbling, but it achieved results. Naruto would know instinctively not to do that again next time, and from there the only direction to go was forward. It dawned on Naruto that he had never actually had someone to practice this stuff with before that didn't want to see him fail or at the very least didn't have the time to instruct him hands on like this. If he was at all bitter about his previous disadvantages, this was counterbalanced by the knowledge that he was improving leaps and bounds now. It was like Kurano said. The past didn't matter; he was _here now_.

Learning chakra control had been a more difficult process, but he had improved in that area as well. By the end of the month, he was using 25 shadow clones in his training where he had used 10 before. He had mastered the tree climbing exercise, and could now walk, run, or jump in the trees almost indefinitely. Towards the end, Kurano had gotten him started on a new training method called water walking, but he wasn't having much success with that yet.

Ninjutsu was arguably the area where he had improved the most. He had mastered the basics of the body flicker, and now only had to work on his speed while using it. Although he had plenty of chakra to expand on the technique, he was still limited by his chakra control, his reaction speed, and the restrictions of his underdeveloped body, although the last one wasn't as much of an issue as it had been in the beginning, due to all of the exercise and reluctant dietary adjustments. He had also learned the shuriken shadow clone jutsu during his ninjutsu sessions, which allowed him to utilize what he already knew from the shadow clone jutsu and apply it to shuriken or even kunai as he threw them. The last jutsu he had learned was the only wind jutsu he'd been able to pick up after finally completing the leaf exercise, which was Wind Release: Gale Palm. It was a C-rank technique which essentially created a violent gust of wind when clapped his hands together. He had found that it worked very well in conjunction with the shuriken shadow clone jutsu. The shredded trees around the training ground could attest to that. He was a bit disappointed that he wasn't ready to pick up and harder wind jutsu, but he would take what he could get.

Dispelling genjutsu was still difficult for him, but he had grasped the basics enough to dispel the ones that Kurano could throw at him. When he had eventually asked his instructor to step it up, Kurano had admitted that he didn't know any genjutsu above D-rank, given that he had little more than zero talent for it outside of dispelling them. Nevertheless, Kurano was confident that he could dispel any genjutsu below B-rank, although he warned him that a C-rank could trip him up if quite a bit if he wasn't careful.

Sealing had been an interesting thing to learn, and Naruto had immediately taking a liking to it. He had studied the theory behind it, and was surprised to find that it was one thing he actually didn't mind reading about, if only because the breadth of what could be done with it intrigued him to no end. Upon finding out that the Fourth Hokage's prized technique, the _Flying Thunder God_, was created using extremely advanced space time manipulation seals which had eluded the comprehension of every other seal master in the world, including Kurano (by his own admission), Naruto was absolutely giddy to begin sealing. He could now create more advanced storage seals that could be applied to commonplace objects other than paper. Kurano had explained that sealing weapons in clothes were one of the most practical applications of this method. He had also learned to create explosive tags, much to his pleasure.

Chakra sensing seemed to be the only area where he didn't make much headway. Once Kurano had flared his chakra enough for Naruto to know what he was looking for, he was able to detect high degree chakra signals, such as his own, by the end of the month. Unfortunately, he found that anything under a jounin level chakra signature was too difficult for him to detect for it to be of any use on a the types of missions he'd be going on. Beyond sensing his own jounin sensei of course. Even if he were to run into an enemy jounin on a D or C-rank mission (and really, what were the chances of that?), he or she would be suppressing their chakra signature to the point where it wouldn't really matter.

Beyond teaching him the shinobi arts, Kurano's entrance into his life had changed many things. The first time they had walked down the streets together on a busy day, it hadn't taken very long for his older brother figure to notice the glares Naruto seemed to be getting. It took him even less time to spike his killing intent just enough so that it could be felt throughout the block they were on, thereby clearing the streets of what Kurano referred to as "ungrateful, ignorant civilian pissants." After only a few days of these occurrences, during which Kurano would casually brush off the concerns of nearby Anbu who felt the disturbances, the glaring seemed lessen as many of the civilians got the message, and word started circulating that the "demon brat" had a relative who just happened to be a jounin.

Kurano had merely stood aside and observed with concealed interest the first time he witnessed Naruto ask the one he referred to as Sakura-chan out on a date. He had raised an eyebrow at the sight of the rather forceful rejection that followed, and had broken Naruto out of his sulking by calling him over to "talk about certain aspects of his training." If the girl had been shocked when Naruto referred to him as Kurano-nii, he wasn't _visibly_ amused by her predictable mortification at having punched the little brother of a jounin over the head in his presence. It wasn't really the rejection that had aggravated him, or even the forcefulness of it, but rather the fact that the girl wouldn't have done the same thing had she known he's been watching. It suggested that this Sakura person knew exactly what she was doing, but did it anyway because she also knew that there would be no repercussions. Who cared if an orphaned delinquent child was assaulted in public? Certainly not _this_ village which seemed to make a game out of testing his patience.

He knew he shouldn't get involved in some aspects of Naruto's life. The boy had to figure out some things himself after all. Nevertheless, when they had gotten back to their apartments (Kurano had moved into the one next door by then), he had been sure to give Naruto a lecture on the subtle differences between a girl and a banshee. When Naruto had insisted that Sakura-chan was indeed the former, he had dropped the subject, but didn't refrain from mentioning that he'd have more luck with the timid Hyuuga girl that subtly followed him around the village from time to time. This last statement had puzzled Naruto to the point where Kurano had wondered where he got his sense of romance from. It definitely wasn't _his_ side of the family. Uzumaki were smarter than that, right?

He had abandoned that train of thought when it had taken to a more morbid track that had to do with the first girl he had ever harbored romantic feelings for. The past week he had been thinking less and less about the destruction of his home village, something which he attributed to Naruto's presence (that old hokage had been right in his primary assumptions), and it didn't help in the slightest to think about the charred corpse of a 12 year old girl who had never gotten the chance to truly live. Especially when he'd been the same age at the time.

He decided to follow a safer train of thought, and began thinking about the hokage's grandson that Naruto had apparently inspired the previous day. What had been his name? Konohamaru? In any case, he was there were some people who saw Naruto for who he was despite their high standing in Konoha. Then again, he was the grandson of that old man. Kurano may not be the biggest fan of his, but he knew the man had sincerely tried to do what was best for Naruto, and he'd have to be greatly biased not to recognize the man's good intentions.

Even if he couldn't prepare Naruto for everything (and honestly, it would be boring if he could), he was more than satisfied with his efforts to prepare the boy for the rough life of a shinobi. If there were any genin in his class that were still stronger than him at this point, then Kurano would personally give them a medal. This silent challenge wasn't to be made light of. After all, if anyone was still stronger than Naruto, it was the Uchiha kid that everyone in the village called a genius, and Kurano really didn't want to be the one to give the rookie of the year another medal. It wasn't that he had anything against the kid, but he knew from past experience that that kind of attention could be annoying for those that were considered prodigies. He'd been called one himself after all, before...

_Dammit. _Stop_ thinking about that.  
_

Honestly though, now that Naruto was back at the academy after their heavy month of training, the only other thing he had to think about was what kind of team he'd end up with. Maybe he should ask for a mission higher than a D-rank now. Either that or start getting out more…

* * *

Naruto sat in boredom as he waited for Iruka-sensei to announce the new teams. His head perked up, however, when he saw Sakura walk into the room. He watched as she walked up the steps with a mischievous smile on her face, the one that made him start to like her to begin with. Even knowing that it wasn't aimed at him, he couldn't help but give a small one of his own. The girl seemed to notice his reaction though, her smile turning into a scowl in response.

"Naruto! Get out of the way! I want to sit on the other side of you!" she yelled.

Naruto sighed as he got up and let her pass. With anyone else he would have a snarky comment in wait for that kind of attitude, but he just couldn't bring himself to be annoyed by Sakura's aggression. He sat down again beside her as she stared at the boy to her left, Sasuke Uchiha. He either didn't notice the attention he was getting or didn't care. Knowing him, it was most likely the latter. Naruto privately thought it was a complete waste for any girl to have romantic feelings for him, let alone every girl in the academy, but didn't voice his thoughts. His time with Kurano had made him far more disciplined, which made sense since he had, in a certain sense, spent over a year being taught by him. It still annoyed him to see the Uchiha prick being the center of attention though.

Iruka-sensei soon walked in, and was forced to shout to interrupt the rather heated argument between Sakura and Ino. He cleared his throat.

"Starting today, all of you are official shinobi. Nevertheless, you are still genin. The real journey has only begun. You will soon be receiving missions to help the village prosper, and get payed in return. So today we will divide you into 3 man teams, each under a jounin sensei. You will be following your sensei's instructions to successfully complete your missions."

Iruka started going down the list of teams, getting mixed reactions to the names called, which ranged from exultant to indignant. This didn't change when team 7 was called.

"Team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki...Sakura Haruno…" Naruto's initial reaction was happiness, but that faded away when he saw Sakura's despairing expression. Dammit, what did she have against him anyway? "...and Uchiha Sasuke." And then there was _that_. Great. He had the stick-up-the-ass rookie of the year as a teammate. This could end in 99 different ways that weren't to his liking, and...some significantly smaller number of ways that were. Oh well. Math was never his strong suit anyway. "Your jounin sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

After the other teams were called, they were dismissed for lunch, and Naruto wondered what their sensei would be like. He already had experience being trained by a jounin, so maybe that would give him an edge in what was to come. He saw that Sakura was trying to get Sasuke to eat lunch with her, and suddenly got an idea. Knowing that he couldn't change the teams, he decided to work with what he got.

"Sakura, Sasuke!" he called, eliciting an annoyed look from his female teammate. Sasuke barely acknowledged him at all. "So since we're all on a team, why don't we all eat lunch together? It will help us get to know each other better, and that will make our teamwork smoother when we go on missions." If he was to be honest, he hadn't thought of doing this himself. It had been Kurano's word of advice to try to achieve a synergy with his teammates, whoever they may be, as it would help a lot in the future.

Unfortunately, Sakura merely scoffed at him and claimed that he was just trying to get a date from her, before proceeding to try to do just that with Sasuke. Naruto couldn't be sure whether the latter actually dismissed his idea or not, since he only seemed to walk away once Sakura tried to earn his affections again. The word "team" didn't exactly mingle with the image of the stoic Uchiha though. He was always acting like the world wasn't good enough for him, which was admittedly the main reason why Naruto disliked him. That and casual way he kicked the blonde's butt in every academy spar and then refused to show any sportsmanship even in the rare moments when he himself did. Forgoing it was a lost cause, Naruto sighed and started sulking about how he managed to get rejected even when he wasn't actually asking her out.

* * *

Once the academy was emptied by jounin senseis arriving to pick up their new genin (and why wasn't that happening for them? It'd been an hour already!), Naruto was destined to sit in awkward silence along with his teammates as Sakura brooded due to _her_ most recent rejection, Naruto brooded due to _his_ most recent rejection, and Sasuke brooded for the hell of it. After about two hours, it got far too broody and moody for Naruto's taste, and he decided to play his first prank in a month (unless you counted the facepaint thing in his photo, but even Kurano, who was practically his guardian, wasn't strict enough to give a damn about _that_). He picked up an eraser from the floor and placed it above the door, which he left ajar. Their sensei would never know what hit him. Well actually, he _would_, but by then Naruto would be laughing.

Part of the reason why he was doing this was also to get a measure of this Kakashi's skills. If he was really a jounin like Kurano-nii, who practically knew what Naruto was going to do next before _he_ even did, then there's no way he'd actually let the eraser hit him.

He was proven wrong when their sensei finally walked in, and the eraser fell on his head with an anticlimactic thud before falling to the floor. Naruto nearly fell over.

"Hmm," Kakashi mused. "My first impression of this group...I don't like you guys. Meet up on the roof."

* * *

"Alright, let's begin with introductions," Kakashi said as he sat lazily on the railing. "Likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams for the future, you get the idea."

"Hey, hey! Can you introduce yourself first?" Naruto asked. "What kind of jounin falls for a prank like that?"

"Oh, me? Well, my name is Kakashi Hatake. I don't feel like telling you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future, hmm...and I have a lot of hobbies. To answer your last question, I'd say the kind that doesn't really care about getting hit by an eraser. Ok, you go now."

"Alright! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen, and I like it even more when Kurano-nii and Iruka-sensei treat me to ramen. I also like Kurano-nii and Iruka-sensei, old man hokage, and old man Teuchi and Ayame too. I dislike having to wait for my ramen to cook, and I also dislike people who blame me for their problems. Hobbies...training and pranks I guess. My dream…is to be the greatest hokage, to make everyone in the village acknowledge me, and to make the people who believe in me proud!"

Kakashi was slightly intrigued. He'd heard about this Kurano the day of his rank evaluations, which had been the talk of the town, at least for the jounin. An Uzumaki, and Kushina's relative. That had come as a shock. He had not approached the man for obvious reasons, but he found himself curious despite his past failures when it came to that family in general.

"I see. Next. You, the broody one."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are a lot of things that I dislike. I don't really like anything. I don't have any hobbies either. What I have is not a dream, but an ambition. The resurrection of my clan...and the death of a certain man."

_Just as I thought._ Kakashi had heard about the Uchiha on the path of an avenger. It seemed he had his work cut out for him.

"Alright. Lastly, pinky over here."

"My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes are…" she trailed off as she looked at Sasuke. "My hobby is…" her sentence went unfinished as she continued to stare at her teammate. "My dream for the future is…" she looked away and squealed.

Kakashi sweatdropped. "And? What do you dislike?"

Her face turned sour. "Naruto!"

Said blonde began sulking again, but this time, there were traces a feeling brewing within him that he didn't recognize immediately. Was it...anger?

"Ok then. That's enough of that for now," Kakashi said. "Our first activity as a team will start tomorrow."

"First activity? What will that be?" Sakura asked.

"Survival training," Kakashi answered. "But...there's a twist to it."

"What kind of twist?" Naruto asked, impatiently fishing for more information.

Kakashi started chuckling ominously. "Well, let's just say it's a test. To decide which of you get to be my students, and which of you get sent back to the academy."

Naruto looked stunned, Sakura looked like she was about to puke, and Sasuke merely adopted a focused expression.

"But sensei...we already passed the graduation exam," Naruto pointed out nervously. "You know, the one that decides who get to be genin?"

"Oh, that? That was just to evaluate who has a chance. The real test begins now."

Naruto eye twitched.

"Tomorrow you'll be graded on your performance out in the field. Bring all of your shinobi tools. Oh, and you might want to skip breakfast. Otherwise you'll puke." He then told them the time and location, and vanished in a puff of smoke. Although Naruto was nervous about the test, he concluded that he'd simply have to pass this one as well...and ensure that his teammates did too, come to think of it. He didn't want to be separated from Sakura-chan, and he wouldn't play favorites just because he didn't like Sasuke-teme, so that was that.

Hopefully it would be that simple.

* * *

A/N: It's not going to be that simple. Remember to review!


	7. Kakashi's Conclusion

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Chapter VII: Kakashi's Conclusion**

When Naruto woke up the next morning, he was greeted by the tantalizing smell of a ready made breakfast once again. He stared at the food on the table in excitement before remembering with dread that he wasn't supposed to eat breakfast. He miserably relayed the advice that they shouldn't eat lest they puke during the exam to Kurano, who hummed.

"That," he began, "is one of the stupidest orders I've ever heard. Now eat up if you want to stand any chance in what your jounin sensei has planned at all." Naruto was unsure of disregarding his new sensei's suggestion, but decided to abide by Kurano's advice instead. Kakashi-sensei had yet to really do anything to earn his respect, other than being reasonably neutral towards him, so he had no reason to value his words over aniki's. With a shrug, he sat down and started eating. During the meal they discussed general strategies that he could use during the test, despite not knowing what it would entail. With his stomach full, Naruto headed out the door towards the training grounds.

When he arrived, he noticed that their sensei wasn't there yet. He remembered the man's absence the previous day and briefly wondered if it would be a common occurrence, but disregarded the notion.

The idea treasonously popped back into his head again after 10 minutes passed, twice more after 20, several times over after 30, and more times than he could keep track of by the one hour mark. After the first half hour, he gave up on waiting altogether and got up to practice some Uzuken katas.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked in an annoyed tone as he stood. She was evidently just as peeved by their sensei's absence as he was, if not more.

"What? Sensei's not showing up any time soon, and I don't want to waste time doing nothing," Naruto argued, before beginning one of his forms. Sasuke looked up for a few seconds as he did so. Although his face betrayed almost nothing of it, if one looked closely they might find that he seemed partial to the idea of getting some training in. After a moment's decision, he too got up and started practicing his own taijutsu style, the Binshoken. He preferred the style over any other, but it was still incomplete without his sharingan, much to his constant aggravation.

Now that they were both practicing taijutsu, Sakura felt oddly out of place, as if she should be doing something as well. The only taijutsu style she knew was the one from the academy. With that in mind, where did _Naruto_ of all people learn a unique style? Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke was idly wondering the same thing. He was subtly observing Naruto's movements out of the corner of his eye as he trained, and what he saw caught his interest, even if he wouldn't admit it.

"Hey dobe," he spoke up. Naruto twitched at the sound of the nickname that had stuck with him throughout his years at the academy. He turned to Sasuke.

"What is it, teme?" he asked briskly. Sakura bristled, but he didn't notice, and Sasuke didn't seem to care.

"What taijutsu style is that?" the Uchiha asked curtly. Naruto stared at him in suspicion, wondering why he wanted to know.

"It's called the Uzuken," he nevertheless answered.

"Never heard of it," Sasuke commented. Naruto scoffed.

"Well, that's fine with me, since I've never heard of yours either!"

Sasuke could have responded that he hadn't even told him what his was called, or alternatively that it was a style unique to the Uchiha clan, but instead he predictably chose to turn away without saying another word. Sakura on the other hand, did not show such restraint.

"Naruto! Stop bothering Sasuke-kun! He's trying to train and you're distracting him!" Naruto turned to the girl with his jaw dropped.

"You've got to be kidding Sakura-chan! He's the one who called _me_!" Sasuke knew this to be true, and unlike Sakura wasn't blinded by bias, but he still didn't say anything, preferring to keep working on his katas as his two teammates continued arguing.

Another half hour passed, and Naruto and Sakura were getting restless. It was at this point where Naruto groaned melodramatically.

"Well he's officially over an hour late now. I really need to vent my frustration on something. Hey teme, how about a spar?"

Sasuke looked at him slightly condescendingly. "Didn't you learn your lesson in the academy?" he asked.

"I didn't learn _jack_ in the academy. Especially not the lessons," Naruto answered with an unapologetic grin.

He was slightly disheartened to hear the quiet snort of "You got that right," from Sakura.

Sasuke contemplated the benefits of sparring with the dobe for a moment. He normally wouldn't consider it, but his interest had admittedly been piqued by the unfamiliar fighting style the blonde had demonstrated. He decided that he had nothing to lose by fighting him. Practice always improved after all, and he needed to get stronger. Besides, there was nothing better to do before their so called sensei showed up. He shrugged and got into a ready position, and Naruto did the same. He ignored the squeal of "Kick his butt, Sasuke-kun!" that came from Sakura, although Naruto twitched again.

Naruto initiated the spar; whether because he was agitated or because Sasuke wasn't moving was unclear. Sasuke blocked a fluid kick with his forearm, and noted while withholding a grunt that the dobe had not hit nearly this hard the last time they sparred. Naruto followed through, and the clash of two distinct taijutsu styles began. Sasuke was instantly caught off guard. Naruto was showing a grace and finesse in his moves that he had never seen from the blonde before. It took him a moment to realize that he was actually being pushed back, albeit gradually. This realization spurred him to pick up the pace, and the speed of Naruto's counters and parries increased in tandem with his own.

Once he got passed his shock that Naruto was actually keeping up with him, and dare he say forcing him slightly onto the defensive, Sasuke began analyzing the spar thus far. He wasn't going all out yet, but he could tell from the dead last's easy and steady breathing that the same was true for his opponent. He seemed to have more experience with his own style than Naruto did with whichever one he was using, but a few times he was reminded of the fact that his style was meant to be used in conjunction with the sharingan as he was knocked off balance by the circular blows that he failed to predict in time. The style didn't seem to follow a set pattern of movements, but rather randomized the user's next move to fit the circumstances, which meant the only way Sasuke could predict the dobe's next move without his clan's dojutsu was by assuming that his own next attack would be thwarted. Hardly practical for a style that revolved around predicting attacks for the most part. His taijutsu skills themselves were sharp enough that he was still able to counter effectively, but he was coming to the realization - one which he was loathe to acknowledge - that he was at a disadvantage against Naruto. The thought left a sour taste in his mouth. If he could barely keep up with the class clown, however much he had improved, how would he ever manage to kill his brother?

Upon seeing that his opponent was evidently having _fun _fighting him, he prepared to step up his game again, when a familiar voice interrupted him.

"Well, you two seem to have found a productive way to spend your time," Kakashi said, breaking them out of their rhythm of attacks and counterattacks as they turned to the direction of the three stumps at which Sakura was sitting. Kakashi eyed them speculatively as he continued. "But as much as I encourage a friendly spar among teammates, I must insist that we begin the test now." The "friendly spar" part was spoken in a mildly sardonic tone.

Sakura was now breaking out of her shock at seeing Naruto fight Sasuke on even grounds, though she grounded herself by asserting in her mind that the rookie of the year had been holding back to give him a sporting chance. She turned toward their sensei in outrage.

"You're late!" she screeched. He let out a mock sheepish laugh.

"Well, I was on my way here, but I saw a black cat cross my path, and had to take the long way around.

"Is this black cat going to be a problem again?" Naruto asked in an annoyed but surprisingly controlled tone. "Because you were late yesterday too." It took Kakashi a full second to recognize that Naruto was mocking him. He'd expected him to be just as outraged as his teammate, if not more, if what he'd heard about the blonde was any indication, but he was shockingly calm about it.

"You could say this particular cat has been a recurring problem in my life," he answered, smiling under his mask. Naruto scowled as he got the hint. The words "recurring problem" seemed to stand out in that sentence.

"Then I'll start training from the start next time," he said, thinking about the wasted half hour. To others this may not seem like a long time, but for Naruto it could productively be anywhere from that amount of time to 25 times that. How long was that? Oh yea, math. Whatever.

"_12 and a half hours," _a voice in his head chastised. The voice sounded suspiciously like Kurano-nii did when encouraging him to think more and not just stumble his way through life. He was getting better at it, he supposed.

He was broken out of his musings when Kakashi set an alarm on top of one of the stumps. "It's set for noon," he stated, before taking out two bells. "Your task is to take one of the bells from me before the time is up. Those who don't have a bell by noon get no lunch. I will proceed to tie you to those stumps and eat right in front of you."

Sakura looked horrified, and Sasuke simply seemed aggravated. Naruto was surprised, but not particularly dismayed, which did not escape the jounin's notice.

'_I heard he has a weakness towards not eating. Could he have had breakfast?'_

Ignoring the possibility, Kakashi continued. "Those who do not get a bell also do not pass. Which means at least one of you will get sent back to the academy." At least _that_ got a reaction out of him. Although Sakura just looked nervous and Sasuke looked focused, Naruto had a conflicted look on his face. He could tell the other two had already taken the test at face value; they were at least somewhat prepared to leave one of their teammates behind. He was curious to know what decision Naruto would come to if he was more reluctant to do so.

"You're free to use whatever methods you wish. Kunai, shuriken, whatever. You won't get a bell unless you come at me with intent to kill," he said. Sakura objected to this rule, claiming he'd be in danger. "Hmm, we'll just have to see about that," he said nonchalantly. "Alright, start when I tell you." The genin predictably tensed up, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. He closed his eyes for a moment. "And…" he opened them again. "Start!"

Sasuke and Sakura immediately leapt into the trees. While that was expected, the frontal assault that Naruto launched without hesitation was not. Kakashi almost felt inclined to mock him by taking out his book...but that thought was banished when the kid formed a handsign and 20 clones popped into existence. The shadows that they cast confirmed what Kakashi already knew from the familiar handsign: they were corporeal. All 20 of them charged him and initiated the strange style that he had seen the boy use against his teammate earlier. Since he already saw it, he was prepared for the formidable assault that the dead last was able to mount. But with 20 of them attacking him like this, he knew he wouldn't be able to read any time soon. He began systematically popping each clone one by one, using every opening to his advantage. The boy's taijutsu was good, but not at his own level, and his speed and strength weren't quite high enough to make him nervous. He also appeared to know the body flicker technique, but it was nowhere as fast as Kakashi's own. Still, this was a remarkable improvement if what Iruka had told him of the boy's skills was to be believed. His thoughts briefly wandered to the boy's new relative before a rather jarring roundhouse kick impacted with his arm and he snapped back into focus, dispelling the last of the clones.

"A little tip," Kakashi said to the remaining Naruto. "If you hang back and let your clones do all the fighting, your opponent will know immediately which one is the real you." He smiled before starting to walk forward. "And that can get you killed."

Naruto scowled. "Thanks for the advice," he said while fingering a kunai. Kakashi was already running toward him, but he jumped back and threw the projectile. Kakashi got ready to bat it aside as he fingered his own weapon, but his eyes widened slightly as Naruto began making hand seals. The single kunai multiplied into 10, and Kakashi abandoned his previous plan in favor of jumping over the swarm of projectiles. But the blonde had already thrown another kunai to intercept him in midair, and he was forced to switch out with a log via substitution. Well, at least the kid had forced him to use chakra.

"Not bad," he commented as walked out of the underbrush. Naruto's eyes were immediately on him again, although to be fair he kind of revealed his position. The distance between them gave him time to make 20 more shadow clones, each of which threw a shuriken at Kakashi. They proceeded to go through a series of handsigns that Kakashi wasn't expecting but nevertheless recognized.

"Wind Release: Gale Palm!" he shouted as he clapped his hands together. A large current of air blew out in front of him, increasing the velocity of the projectiles he had thrown. Kakashi got ready to perform another substitution, but he was able to dodge the hail shuriken by a few inches. Kakashi was surprised by the fact that Naruto knew wind manipulation, but didn't show it.

"Well, this is getting tiresome," he drawled, before gathering some lightning chakra into his raised hand. A widespread current of electricity tore through the air and dispelled most of the clones, and Kakashi went in and dispatched the rest with a few simple jabs before turning to Naruto. Before he could make any more, Kakashi was behind him, holding his hand behind his head.

"Did you even consider hiding?" the jounin asked curiously. Naruto's response was to smirk, which put him slightly on guard.

"Yeah, I did actually." He then vanished in a puff of smoke. Kakashi was moderately impressed now. He'd been fighting a clone who he'd assumed was the original. But when had he done it…? Kakashi thought back and realized it was when he had closed his eyes briefly. Perhaps he wasn't taking this quite as seriously as he should be. He searched for the real Naruto's chakra signature and locked into it, along with those of Sasuke and Sakura. He was about to go after them when his brow furrowed at a rather large spike of chakra. He suppressed a smile when he realized the blonde was stalling. It was an admirable tactic, and his use of clones was effective provided he didn't exhaust himself, but Kakashi could only wonder what he was stalling _for_. He discreetly made 2 shadow clones himself. They both disappeared into the trees right before 50 Naruto clones flooded the clearing. Kakashi rolled his shoulder and was rewarded with a satisfying pop. Alright, time to get this over with.

* * *

Sakura watched in awe at the army of Naruto's continued to combat their sensei. Granted they weren't winning, but those were all _solid_ clones! When on earth had Naruto learned to do this? She tried to reconcile this Naruto with the one from the academy, with little success.

"Sakura, pay attention to your surroundings," came a voice from behind her. Startled, she spun around to face the smiling face of Kakashi-sensei. Before she could so much as scream, her world grew fuzzy and she sank to the ground, unconscious.

"Well, that was easy," the Kakashi clone muttered, before beginning to walk away. He almost stopped when he felt a familiar presence in a nearby tree, but merely smirked and kept walking.

_Maybe he does get it._

After Kakashi had put a rather large distance between them, Naruto jumped down from the tree, frowning. So Kakashi-sensei could make shadow clones as well. He wondered why the jounin hadn't sensed him; he wasn't that good at hiding his chakra after all. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he walked up to Sakura and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Release," he muttered, before stepping backwards as she bolted upright in confusion. She looked around wearily for a moment before her eyes landed on Naruto.

"Naruto! I thought you were...what are you doing here?" she asked.

Naruto grinned. "Oh, just breaking you out of a genjutsu. I'd ask what you were doing, but I'm guessing the answer would be 'getting caught in a genjutsu.' But putting that aside, do you know where Sasuke is? Kakashi will probably go for him next, so we'll want to meet up with him before-"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gasped, ignoring the rest of what he had to say as she dashed off towards the distant sounds of a skirmish.

"Hey, wait for me!" Naruto yelled, but the girl paid him no heed. Mildly offended, he grunted in slight annoyance and rushed after her.

* * *

"You know, there's a saying for times like these," Kakashi said as he stared down at the glaring eyes of Sasuke Uchiha, who was buried up to his neck in the ground. "The highest nails tend to get hammered down first. Although it's debatable whether or not you're the highest nail, your insistence that you're on a different level than the others does nevertheless draw unnecessary attention to you. Part of a shinobi's job is to deceive the enemy. Think about that before you start boasting next time." With that said, the shadow clone burst into a puff of smoke.

Sasuke struggled a bit as he slowly started to dig himself out of the ground. He'd never been in a situation like this before, but simply thought of it as another type of escape jutsu to be learned. Of course, it was quite distracting when Sakura came out of the trees, saw his position, and started freaking out. Naruto was walking behind her, seemingly in a depressed mood, but once he caught sight of Sasuke's predicament, he burst out laughing. Sasuke thought _he_ might need to learn the shadow clone jutsu just so he could glare at them both simultaneously.

After their initial reactions, they calmed down and helped dig his body out of the ground. "So," Naruto began as Sasuke dusted himself off. "I think it's safe to say that we need to work together. None of us were able to get the bells, and we're running out of time." He grinned. "Although I think it's fair to say that I did better than you guys."

The tides turned now as they _both_ turned to glare at him, causing him to sweat a bit. "So...anyway...anyone got a plan?"

"I've had one from the beginning," Sasuke grunted. "And it doesn't involve either of you two. I was able to touch the bell. Next time I'll get it."

Naruto was getting increasingly annoyed by the Uchiha's pompous attitude, but persisted. "Well, a few of my clones managed to get pretty close too, but sensei still dispelled them all. And he doesn't even seem to be trying that hard to be honest. At least if we go at him together we can catch him off guard," he grudgingly reasoned. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him.

"Why are you so adamant about working together? You know that only two of us can pass right? It hardly makes sense for all three of us to cooperate," she said. Naruto gave her a hurt look.

"So in other words, you want to pass along with Sasuke and leave me behind right?" he inferred. Sakura's eyes widened.

"What? No-I mean-I just think-"

"I just think we should work as a team because we _are_ one!" Naruto interrupted. "No matter what the rules of this stupid test are, that doesn't change the fact that we're supposed to be a three man cell!" he came close to shouting. "Maybe I don't get this damn test, but I won't just abandon people because I'm told to! Even if not all of us can pass in the end, that's better than none of us even getting a bell right?" Sakura was now looking at the ground in guilt, but his words didn't seem to move Sasuke much.

"Hn. You should save your concern for yourself. I've never needed a team, and I don't need one now." With that said, he began walking towards the clearing. Sakura wanted to follow after him, but hesitated as she looked back at Naruto, who just looked disheartened. He started grumbling as he reluctantly followed behind the Uchiha, and Sakura in turn followed behind him. Little did they know that their little argument had an audience.

From the branch of a nearby tree, the second Kakashi clone hummed in thought. "Well, that was enlightening," he said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Kakashi received the intel from his second clone and frowned. This was quite the difficult position he was in. Based off of what he had just seen and heard from Naruto, he was tempted to let the kid pass. But the others hadn't listened to him, and it wasn't as if he could really pass one of them and not the others. Contrary to what the rules of the test implied, there were no jounin senseis with one man genin teams, unless you counted apprenticeships. He regretted it, but if Sasuke and Sakura didn't shape up soon, he would most likely be forced to fail Naruto. The thought continued to bother him as the three genin came back into the clearing for another round.

For a fleeting moment he thought they may be working together after all, but what followed was not at all what he wanted to see. The three weren't in synch at all as they all scrambled for the bells. Naruto was doing what he'd been doing, namely flooding the area with clones, some of which attacked head on while others barraged him with multiplied kunai and shuriken. Sasuke was blowing successive fireball jutsu at him, dispelling Naruto's clones in the process. Sakura was attempting to distract him with academy level clones as she made a run for the bells. Needless to say, it wasn't that hard to evade them all with a few well timed substitutions and earth release tunneling. Most of the clones, at least the ones that weren't burnt to death by Sasuke, were dispelled by his lightning release and water release techniques, the latter of which suppressed any of Sasuke's fireballs that were difficult to dodge, and Sakura wasn't even a threat as he played a purely evasive game with her. It wasn't long before the alarm sounded, and Kakashi was left disappointed as the three genin deflated.

* * *

"Uuuuugghh!" Sakura yelled. "This makes no sense! Why am I the only one tied to the stump!" she complained as she writhed helplessly against the ropes.

"Who knows," Naruto replied. "Maybe it's because you were the only one who wasn't able to touch a bell?" he speculated. His initial reaction to the situation was to cut Sakura free and risk Kakashi's wrath, but he still harbored some resentment to her attitude earlier if he was to be honest with himself. And that confused him. He loved Sakura, so why was he mad at her? Every time he thought back to how she had repeatedly dismissed him, his stomach tightened in anger, and he couldn't explain it. He had never really found fault in her temperamental ways before, so why was now different? He thought back to the way Kurano-nii had accepted him so readily, so unconditionally when he had arrived, and found himself wondering if Sakura would ever do that. The answer he came up with was not reassuring. The more he compared Sakura's complete disregard for his existence to Kurano's continuous support, the more his interest in Sakura just seemed _wrong_. Of course, then he would chastise himself for comparing a brother to a love interest, but another part of him would continue to traitorously ask if this is what being in love was really supposed to feel like. Was he in love with Sakura at all, or was it just a shallow crush, a childhood infatuation?

He was broken out of his thoughts by the growling of said girl's stomach. After the alarm rang, Kakashi had scolded them about the importance of teamwork, and revealed that the entire point of the test was to see if they could work together despite the stifling odds as the rules of the test divided them. Naruto had felt like kicking himself. He should have known it was something like that. Once the lecture ended, he just felt miserable. He had been willing to work together, yes, but if he had ended up getting a bell in the process, would he really have given it up in the spirit of teamwork? Would he really have had the guts to go back to the academy and let his teammates move on? He just wasn't sure. Kakashi had decided to give them another chance, so long as they didn't give Sakura any food, but he already felt like he was failing again somehow just by listening to him in that regard. He stopped eating for a moment. Despite being more than a little annoyed at her, he couldn't help but sympathize with Sakura. He would hate to have to skip two meals in a row. He was all too familiar with the pangs of hunger, and it didn't bode well for him to watch someone suffer through that. Not only that, but she was still his teammate, and he had quite literally just learned this lesson a minute ago. With a sigh, he stood up and took out a kunai. Sakura looked startled.

"H-hey! W-what are you-?" she was interrupted as Naruto cut the ropes with one swift motion. They fell to the ground around her, and she looked at him in open confusion. Sasuke had stopped eating, and now looked on with a raised eyebrow as Naruto handed Sakura his lunch.

"Eat," he said simply. "I didn't listen to sensei and ate breakfast, so I'll be fine. You need this food more than I do." Sakura looked at the food in her hands hungrily, and mumbled a sincere thank you before digging in. Sasuke looked down at the nearly finished tray of food in his hands and grimaced before handing it to Naruto, who looked at him questioningly.

"You seem to eat more than I do, and I don't want you dragging us down because of hunger when we try this again," he said. "Besides, I was almost finished. You can have the rest."

Naruto grinned as he finished off the last of the food in the tray. "I think you're getting soft, Uchiha." The boy scoffed.

"Whatever. It turns out you were right about working together. This is just my way of getting even. I refuse to be a burden, dobe."

Before Naruto could come up with a clever response, lightning crackled before their eyes before Kakashi materialized in front of them in a shower of sparks. "YOU THREE!" he shouted, which actually seemed out of character for him but nonetheless terrifying, causing Naruto to gulp, Sakura to tremble, and Sasuke to get ready for a fight. "YOU...PASS!"

The statement hung on the air for a long while before Naruto worked up the nerve to speak. "Er...what?"

"You guys are the first team I've passed. Everyone else would just do whatever I told them. A bunch of idiots, really. A ninja must see underneath the underneath. In the shinobi world, those who disregard the rules are trash. But those who disregard their comrades are worse than trash."

The three new genin had mixed reactions. Sakura was relieved that they passed, and was starting to seriously rethink her attitude towards the boy who had just allowed them to do so. Sasuke was allowing a small smirk to manifest on his face. Naruto was staring at Kakashi in slight awe. _'He's...pretty damn cool,'_ the blonde decided. Kakashi gave them all a thumbs up. "That concludes our training for today. All of you pass! Starting tomorrow team 7 will begin it's official duties!"

With that, the four new squad members made their way out of the training grounds, Naruto babbling happily about ramen all the while.

* * *

A/N: Fun fact - Binshoken means Nimble Fist. At least I think it does.


	8. A Guest at Training Ground 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Chapter VIII: A Guest at Training Ground 7**

Naruto grumbled in poorly concealed aggravation as he made his way to the door of his apartment. The past week they had gotten nothing but D-ranked missions from the old man. It was so _boring. _Not to mention that this was the third time they'd had to retrieve that stupid cat, and the third time he'd had to hand it to Sakura (who it was strangely docile towards) in order to not get covered in claw marks.

Speaking of said girl, she had been a lot more friendly lately. The other day she had apologized for the way she had acted in the academy and during the bell test. But she also told him that she quite frankly had no romantic feelings for him. By then he had moved past it, and accepted her apology. Although he still had some feelings for her, he didn't want to come off as pushy, so he had stopped asking her out.

As for Sasuke, Naruto thought that maybe he had warmed up just the slightest bit, but he honestly couldn't tell with that guy. He barely showed any emotions. The one time Naruto had been able to tell what he was thinking was during a previous training exercise. When Sakura had caught him tree walking several days ago, it had come as a surprise to him to learn that neither of his teammates knew how to do it yet. Kakashi-sensei hadn't acted surprised when Sasuke demanded that he teach it to them, but he did spare a contemplative glance in Naruto's direction.

The look on Sasuke's face when Sakura scaled the tree in under a minute, leaving him as the only one who needed to do the exercise, was quite priceless, partially because it was one of the few times when the guy let his mask of stoicism slip.

He heard Kurano's door open and the redhead came outside to greet him. At first he had wondered how Kurano always knew he was home, and when he asked, Kurano bluntly stated that Naruto's chakra signature was so poorly concealed that he could sense it coming towards him even when he wasn't trying to.

Unfortunately, concealing his chakra wasn't something he had made much progress on this passed month. Kurano had informed him that he actually did it subconsciously, and likely had since he was young. Apparently the only times he radiated anything close to his true amount was when he used a chakra taxing technique like his shadow clones. During one of his chakra control exercises, the jounin had told him to try to raise his chakra to its maximum, as it would be useful on missions in some circumstances. Naruto had managed to do so with a bit of instruction (raise it as if you were trying to make as many shadow clones as you can, but don't actually make them), and was surprised when he felt the rush of energy that he hadn't known since the Mizuki incident.

It felt good, but he thought he understood why he had started suppressing it without realizing it. If he felt that way all the time, he wouldn't be able to sit still for a minute. Hell, he could barely do that anyway. Although he was now able to push it to his maximum, he still wasn't able to reel it in successfully. It wasn't that he didn't know how; he could replicate the effects of what he had been doing already. It was just that when he tried to do it, he felt like he was attempting to squeeze a lake's worth of water into a puddle through sheer willpower alone. Kurano merely said that his was another aspect of chakra control that he would have to master.

"So how are those D-ranks going kid?"

Naruto turned to the man with a deadpan expression. "Why are you even asking?"

Kurano rolled his eyes. "Because I just love to give you an excuse to rant," he said.

"Well, they're as boring as always. That aside, when is _your_ next mission?" Naruto asked.

"In two days actually," the redhead replied. "I finally took on an A-rank."

Naruto's head perked up. That was news. The old man hadn't been letting Kurano take an A-ranked mission yet because apparently jounin who weren't Anbu needed at least 3 B-ranks on their record before they could take one. Normally most jounin would already have that many under their belt by the time they served the village long enough to achieve that rank, but obviously Kurano's case was an exception.

Kurano himself had been annoyed when he was told, but had started taking B-ranks in quick succession when they were available. After a week he had met the requirement. Other than the success of all of them, one good thing that had come out of it was that he had met some of the other ninja in Konoha. He had worked with Kotetsu and Izumo, the two gatekeepers that had initially drawn amusement out of his desire to join Konoha's forces. The two worked well together, and although they were chunin, Kurano could tell that they were stronger than what their ranks would lead one to believe, nearing the level that some special jounin were at. They were both easygoing, but also level headed out in the field, so Kurano didn't really mind them.

On the other hand, he had also worked with the overly excited torture specialist who had been present at his interrogation on day one, whom he now knew as Anko. It wasn't her eccentricities that annoyed him so much as her insincere advances on him during missions. She didn't try anything in hostile territory, but on the way she would make not so subtle moves on him in what he could tell were attempts to rile him up. She would then pout at not being able to get a reaction out of him and try again an hour later.

It wasn't even that he didn't find her attractive, but he was in no shape or form looking for a relationship right now, plus he doubted she was either. And so he had taken to avoiding her in the village, which he soon found meant he couldn't visit any dango shops. Well shit, he _liked_ dango, and he had barely had any since he was a kid, so sue him if he was a bit annoyed with the whole thing.

He had also worked with a kenjutsu expert named Hayate on a couple occasions. Out of anyone he had worked with, he tolerated this guy the best. The man was quiet and didn't try to make idle conversation. In fact he rarely spoke unless it was pertaining to the mission, which was honestly fine with him. The fact that he was actually quite an accomplished swordsman, even by Kurano's standards, was a bonus. He felt for the man though. With that lung disease of his, he couldn't exactly fight at his full potential.

"What's your mission going to be?" Naruto asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Classified," Kurano responded, smirking slightly.

"Aw come on! You won't even tell me?"

"I will if you need to know. As it stands, you don't."

"Fine," Naruto grumbled, before his eyes lit up. "Hey aniki, I've been wondering…" he trailed off.

Kurano raised an eyebrow and nodded, silently prompting him to continue. Naruto took a breath.

"Would you come to one of my training sessions?"

The redhead's brow furrowed in puzzlement. That, he had not expected. "I wouldn't mind...but is your sensei ok with it?"

"Yeah, totally! In fact, it was Kakashi-sensei's idea to begin with!" the boy replied with enthusiasm now that he knew Kurano was considering it.

Kurano thought for a moment. He wouldn't really mind meeting Naruto's team, but why had their sensei made a request like that? He had considered that a jounin sensei might have an issue with the training he had given Naruto since he wasn't technically his guardian, but that didn't explain why he'd been invited to train with them. He suddenly had an urge to meet the man, if only to satisfy his own curiosity.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt," he said finally, causing Naruto to beam. "I can come by tomorrow since I don't leave until the day after."

"Sounds great!" Naruto said. He was looking forward to this. Kakashi was a great sensei, but he kind of missed training with his older brother figure.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura sat in the middle of the training grounds, preparing for the inevitably long wait for their sensei. Although Sakura would normally be grateful to have some alone time with her quiet teammate, he was always so...well, _quiet_. The silence always became awkward after a few short minutes.

"So…" she began, determined to strike up a conversation with the boy of her affections. "Do you think maybe Kakashi-sensei will be on time today?" she asked.

Sasuke turned and scowled at her as if to say '_Why are you asking stupid questions?' _Sakura gave a halfhearted smile. Of course she knew it wouldn't happen, but she felt the need to say something. Still, this was a better reaction than what she would have gotten two weeks ago, when Sasuke would have completely ignored her. He seemed to have, at the very least, accepted that they were on the same team and that they would have to communicate.

Sakura actually felt relieved when she heard the obnoxious shout of "Good morning Sakura, Sasuke-teme!"

She turned around, prepared to greet Naruto, and stopped short upon seeing who was with him. It was his jounin relative, the one who she had hit him over the head right in front of.

Inwardly, she groaned. Outwardly, she waved at Naruto and returned the greeting.

Sasuke eyed the redhead curiously as the two walked over. Naruto had only mentioned–Kurano was his name, he was pretty sure–in passing. He had never actually met the jounin. But he had heard things. Although he pretended to ignore everyone around him, Sasuke actually kept an ear out for information in the village. Awareness was important for a ninja, after all, and if those around you assumed you were oblivious, then all the better. As a result, he had heard a few of the rumors circulating about the foreign shinobi who had been assimilated into the rank of jounin within a couple days of entering the village.

It all seemed a bit strange to him. He had come from outside Konoha, and yet he was related to Naruto, who had lived inside the walls all his life. That most likely meant that he was related through the dobe's parents, who he had never even met, Sasuke had assumed.

He took in the man's appearance, and immediately noticed the second headband worn around his arm. It was safe to assume that it was to honor the village he came from, but he didn't recognize the insignia on it. Weird.

"Hey guys, this is Kurano-nii!" Naruto babbled excitedly. "Kakashi-sensei asked me to invite him to a training session, and here he is!"

Kurano yawned. "And here I am," he agreed sleepily, inwardly amused by the simplicity of the introduction. Ignoring the nervous look from the pink haired girl and the curious one from the broody Uchiha, he looked around and scowled. "Would it be farfetched to assume that this Kakashi-sensei will be late?" he asked.

"Nope!" Naruto answered, a little too happily.

"Excellent," Kurano drawled, sitting down and leaning against one of the stumps that Team 7 always waited by. "This is exactly what I came for, to watch you three entertain yourselves until your chronically unpunctual sensei decides to grace us with his presence at his own training session." He leaned his head back into his arms and closed his eyes, yawning again. "Alright, wake me when he gets here."

"Kurano-nii, what are you doing!" Naruto protested.

Kurano opened one eye and met Naruto's mock glare in confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"You're supposed to help us train until he get here!" the blonde shouted.

Kurano's eyes were both opened wide now. "_What?_"

* * *

When Kakashi arrived at the training grounds half an hour later, he was pleasantly surprised to see his three students standing next to a redheaded shinobi who could only be one person. He had requested that Naruto try to get him here, but hadn't expected to meet him so soon. He hung back for a moment and watched as a reluctant Sakura stood across from Kurano, who was looking at her with unconcerned expectancy. Kakashi inwardly winced as she came at him with a picture perfect academy style kata that would nevertheless fail to harm most genin. They really needed to work on that.

Kurano lazily caught the punch, but Kakashi could see the agitation on his features.

"Kid, it doesn't matter if you know how to throw a punch if you can't throw a punch," he said, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice.

Sakura stepped back and flushed red. She knew she had little to no muscle, and didn't need to be reminded of the fact. To make things worse, Naruto immediately came to her defense.

"Give her a break aniki. Sakura hits harder when she'd mad! I know that for a fact!"

If anything, this only made the red on Sakura's face more pronounced.

"Well then…" Kurano said with a raised eyebrow. "That's great and all, but she's not going to be angry every time she needs to hit someone, and getting angry on a mission of a good way to get killed. You might want to ask your sensei about a more physically demanding training regimen. Training weights or gravity seals would help…" he paused. "Then again, why am I the one telling you this when your sensei is finally here?"

Naruto and Sakura looked up, startled, as Kakashi appeared before them. "Sorry about that Sakura. I've been focusing quite a bit on chakra control lately and teamwork lately, but I'm sure we can work on something to get your strength and endurance up soon." He turned to Kurano. "Nice to meet you, Kurano-san. I assume you worked with each of them before I arrived. What did you think of the other two?"

Kurano looked at him curiously. "Naruto still needs to work on his chakra control. Some more work on taijutsu couldn't hurt either. "From what I've seen with Sasuke, his main issue is stamina, but his ninjutsu could use some work too. He seems like he could benefit from training in genjutsu, even though he hasn't worked on it much yet. As for Sakura, her chakra control is excellent, but her reserves are very low, and her ninjutsu and taijutsu are lacking. I could see her specializing in genjutsu. She seems to have a talent for it, but she's impeded by a lack of experience in the area."

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully. Kurano had already worked with Naruto, but to be able to learn that much about the other two in half an hour was impressive.

"Well, today we were going to start off by continuing water walking," Kakashi said. "Afterwards, we can do individual training for each of you."

As they made their way over to the river, Kurano caught Kakashi's attention.

"So why did you want me to come to your training session?" he asked emotionlessly.

Kakashi glanced at him, but Kurano wasn't looking at him, so he looked ahead as he answered.

"I guess you could say I was curious. When I got Naruto's academy report, I thought I would have my work cut out for me. Supposedly he was abysmal at all aspects of the shinobi arts, and had no notable talent other than his massive chakra reserves. So I found myself quite surprised when I he impressed me during the bell test."

"Naruto has a lot of potential," Kurano said in that same emotionless voice.

"I'm aware," Kakashi replied. "I'm also aware that after all the damage the academy must have done, it would take a lot of work to bring out that potential. Which is why I found myself curious."

Kurano hummed noncommittally and didn't say anything more.

* * *

When they arrived, Kurano turned to his blonde sibling. "So how far have you gotten on water walking? I would have thought you would have mastered it by now, with the rate you were going at when we left off."

Naruto looked a bit sheepish. "Well, actually, I haven't really been going at that rate. I didn't use the same training method because you told me not to parade it around too much."

Kurano sighed and rubbed his head. "Kid, I just meant not to brag about it, and be careful who you show it to in general. I didn't mean to stop using it. Besides, this is your team." He snuck a glance at the other three, who had taken an interest in the conversation. Almost absentmidedly, he asked, "Do you trust them?"

Naruto looked surprised. "Of course I do!" He answered, almost defensively.

"Then there's no problem. Keep using those clones," the redhead replied.

This got mixed reactions from the three listening. Sakura looked outright confused, while Sasuke wore a puzzled frown, and Kakashi had a look of realization on his face.

"You had him train with shadow clones?" The masked jounin asked. "That's pretty dangerous for a genin."

"Most genin," Kurano replied with a shrug.

"I see what you mean," Kakashi conceded. "So, how many can he make? I've never actually seen him exhaust himself with the technique."

"For practicality? 25 for any lengthened training, or several dozen for combat. He can make a few hundred if he wants to, but they lose a lot of their effectiveness at that point." He looked at Naruto for a moment, who seemed to be embarrassed after realizing that he was now the center of attention. "I'd say he could make a thousand if he really put his mind to it, but the clones wouldn't last for very long, and it would leave him exhausted.

"What are you two talking about?" Sasuke asked, a touch of impatience in his tone._ A thousand shadow clones? Is he serious? _

"It seems Naruto has been training using shadow clones as a learning tool," Kakashi answered. "Beyond useful, considering that anything the clones train in will be assimilated by the original once they dispel, with the exception of physical conditioning." _Actually, I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself, but no one alive has actually utilized that method effectively since the Third Hokage in his prime as far as I know._

Sakura looked shocked at this revelation, while Sasuke snuck a glance at the blonde. _So that's how he improved so fast. I really need to awaken my sharingan already. Otherwise the dobe's going to leave me in the dust. _

"Well, that's enough chit chat," Kakashi decided. "Let's see how much you three have improved."

Team 7 continued the water walking exercise with the two jounin observing. Sakura had the control part down, but would still tire out after several minutes of walking on the surface. Sasuke could use the technique effectively when he was actively focusing on regulating his chakra, but still need to work on using it passively. Naruto seemed to be the furthest along since he had gotten a head start, but he still wobbled through his forms every now and then.

After about half an hour, Naruto had completely mastered the technique using a dozen shadow clones, so Kakashi took him aside and had him work to improve the body flicker technique, which he had previously demonstrated. After the other two had made significant progress on their water walking, Kurano suggested that Kakashi have them work on the same technique. As it turned out, Sasuke already knew it, but couldn't use it effectively in combat.

By the end of the day, they had all made significant progress, and Kurano mentioned that Kakashi should bring chakra paper next time to check their affinities before leaving.

_Hmm, elemental training already, _the copy ninja pondered. _Well, Sasuke and Naruto do each know one already. It might be a good idea to get a head start. _He watched as his three genin each waved their goodbyes and left. _They're pretty much ready. I think I'll ask for a C-rank soon._

* * *

A/N: Don't worry, Sasuke and Sakura's progress will become more noticeable in the future. As the summary suggests, this story will feature a stronger Team 7, not just a stronger Naruto. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Lost out.


	9. Escort to the Land of Waves

So as you all probably know, shinobi, as well as techniques, in the Naruto world are ranked from E to S, E being academy level, and S usually meaning kage level and above. I've decided to include an AN at the end of each chapter regarding the rank of any techniques that were used (if they haven't been introduced yet), as well as where the relevant ninja in the chapter are ranked (if they have displayed their prowess in the chapter). With that said, I won't reveal a character's strength right off the bat if I want it to be a surprise.

Enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

**Chapter IX: Escort to the Land of Waves**

Team 7 stood at attention in the Hokage's office, silently dreading another poor excuse for a mission. It was only their second week of active duty, but Naruto already looked like he would blow a fuse if they had to retrieve Tora again. What made it worse was that Kurano had left for his first A-rank mission the previous day. That alone wouldn't be cause for his to worry, but ever since his surrogate brother had taken the mission, he had been in a strange mood. Naruto couldn't quite get a reading on what that mood was, due to the mask he had in place, but he almost seemed resigned, like he wasn't looking forward to the mission for whatever reason, and he still refused to talk about what the mission would entail. That uncertainty, along with the blandness of Naruto's own missions was really starting to wear at his nerves.

"Now let's see," the Hokage began, "Team 7, we have a few more missions for you to choose from today. "There is babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping for supplies in a neighboring village, potato digging…" Collectively, Team 7 groaned inwardly as the list went on. Kakashi, although amused by their grumbling, decided to come to their rescue.

"Actually Hokage-sama, I believe they're ready for a C-rank mission at this time," he said, earning excited looks from his team, Naruto in particular.

"Ah, I see," the Hokage said with a smile.

"Are you sure, Kakashi?" Iruka spoke up from beside the old man's desk. "It's only been a week after all."

"I'm sure," Kakashi replied. "They're quite the team. Hot headed, sure, but I'm confident they can get the job done."

"In that case, we do have a client, a bridge builder, who has requested an escort to the Land of Waves. I was going to give this mission to a small squad of chunin, but if you feel they are ready...Tazuna-san, you may enter!"

An old man carrying a bottle of sake walked into the room and scowled as he caught sight of the team that was assigned to him.

"What's this? They're just a bunch of brats. How are they supposed to guard me? Especially the short one with the stupid looking face."

Naruto twitched. That just wasn't fair. He wasn't even that much shorter than Sakura. An inch or two maybe, but to be called the short one? He was already in a bad mood and this old man was dangerously close to the line.

"Hey brat! I'm talking to you! Are you really a ninja?"

Yep, that line had just come and gone. Unwittingly, Naruto's chakra levels spiked to that of a jounin, earning curious glances from everyone in the room who could detect it. The client that it was directed at immediately began sweating as Naruto glared at him.

"I'd answer you, but sadly you're my client," he muttered.

Kakashi sighed. "Like you said, Naruto, he is our client, so if you would kindly refrain from directing any killing intent towards him…"

Naruto blinked as he realized what he'd been doing. His chakra settled down, and he smiled at Kakashi. "Whoops, sorry sensei."

As the group filed out of the room, Tazuna released the breath he'd been holding._ Man, that's one creepy kid…_

* * *

As the four ninja and their client made their way out of the gates, Naruto realized that this was his first time actually leaving Konoha. Excitement welled up in him.

"Hey, Sensei?" Sakura spoke up. "Are there ninja in the Land of Waves?"

"Well, there's no ninja village," Kakashi answered. If there are ninja there, it's because they're not affiliated with one. Usually nothing to worry about in a small country like Wave. Unless of course, they're after something in particular, which is unlikely." As he was speaking, Tazuna seemed to tense up, which didn't escape Kakashi's notice. _Curious_.

After walking for a little while longer, they walked by a puddle, which Kakashi, already on the lookout for anything unusual, instantly took note of. It had been sunny for the passed few days. There shouldn't be a puddle, especially not out in the open. This complicated things.

As they continued walking, two figures rose from the puddle. Naruto's head perked up, sensing a small amount of killing intent coming from behind them.

"Watch out!" Naruto shouted, drawing a kunai. Sasuke was instantly on guard as well, but before they could act, the two figures had wrapped a serrated chain around Kakashi, causing the jounin's lone eye to widen. A second later, he was ripped to shreds.

"One down."

Sakura screamed as Tazuna stared in shock. While Sasuke recognized the signs of a substitution being used and kept calm, Naruto was so affected by the sight of his sensei dying that he didn't notice. Instantly, the killing intent permeating the air multiplied many times over as a look of rage manifested on the blonde's face. As the two enemy ninja appeared behind him, he jumped backwards over the chain and aimed a kunai at the closer one's head, which was blocked by his gauntlet.

The other ninja decided to ignore Naruto, realizing he wasn't as easy as a target as they'd originally assumed, and went straight for Tazuna. Sasuke and Sakura, now understanding who their target was, quickly acted. Sakura dashed in front of Tazuna with a kunai at the ready while Sasuke assaulted the shinobi, stopping him in his tracks.

The other one attempted to get passed Naruto to help kill the bridge builder, but Naruto made three shadow clones and went on the offensive with the Uzuken, scoring a few hits on him and forcing him back. Finally, he created an opening and stabbed the kunai into his abdomen, but he burst into water. Naruto caught sight of where he had appeared after the substitution and threw the kunai, which the other ninja got ready to block. Unfortunately for him, it multiplied into a dozen, which were all then propelled by a wind ninjutsu. Not expecting that level of ninjutsu from a kid, the ninja was soon littered with kunai, none of which hit any vital areas. Still, it was enough to render him a sitting duck while Naruto walked forward with another kunai in hand.

Meanwhile, Sasuke had managed to graze the other one with a fireball jutsu, rendering his arm useless, before knocking him out with a taijutsu combo. After making sure he was really unconscious, he turned towards the blonde.

"Hey, Naruto!" His teammate didn't seem to hear him though. He noticed that the blonde's hand was trembling as he grasped the kunai, aiming it at the downed shinobi in front of him. He seemed to be struggling with the decision of whether to use it or not.

"That'll be enough for now, Naruto," came a voice from behind him, breaking him out of his thoughts. Kakashi quickly appeared in front of the enemy shinobi and knocked him out with a chop to the neck. Naruto's eyes widened.

"Kakashi...sensei?" He looked back at where Kakashi's corpse had laid, noticing that it its place was a pile of broken wood. _A substitution. I can't believe I didn't notice…_

"If you weren't really dead, why did you let the kids fight?" Tazuna asked.

"Two reasons," Kakashi replied. "First, I wanted to see how they would do in my absence. I might add that they performed admirably, although Naruto, I would suggest not losing control of your emotions in the middle of a life or death situation. If I were to actually die, you would have much better chances of survival if you kept a cool head. The second reason...is that I wanted to figure out who their target was."

"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked, sweating a bit.

"I mean it's no coincidence that two missing Kiri nin were out this close to Konoha. I needed to confirm that you were their target, and as it turns out, I was right. So, care to explain? With other ninja after you, this is at least a B-rank mission now."

Tazuna sighed. "I'm sorry. It's true, I lied about the mission. But our country isn't able to afford a B-rank escort mission. I had no choice."

"If that was the case, you should have informed the Hokage. He probably could have worked something out. As it stands, we're operating outside of our mission directives."

"Does that mean we have to return to Konoha?" Sakura asked.

"Well, that would depend on you three. I've done these kinds of missions before, but not with a group of genin. It comes down to whether you three are willing to attempt this mission. I'll be here supervising, but we don't know what will happen. Danger is part of the life of a shinobi."

"You don't need to ask me. I'm not backing down just because the odds are stacked against us!" Naruto said enthusiastically, slipping back into his normal persona now that he knew Kakashi was ok.

"I have to agree with the dobe. We're never going to get stronger if we shy away from danger," Sasuke said.

Sakura looked nervous, but nodded. She didn't want to abandon their client for dead, after all.

"Well then, I guess that's settled," Kakashi said. "We'll just have to be on our guard from now on." He quickly sent a smoke signal for the Anbu who would be patrolling the village outskirts before they set off.

* * *

About a day passed without incident as the group neared the Land of Waves. Currently, they were being rowed across the water towards the docks of a small market village as Tazuna explained who was really after him,about Gato's underground criminal activities, and the bridge that he was building. Most of the economic stuff went over Naruto's head, but at the mention of the word "slaves," the blonde decided that this Gato guy really needed his ass kicked.

When they arrived at the village, Naruto was enthralled by the scenery. This wasn't nearly this much water in Konoha. But he supposed the should have gathered from the name that the Land of Waves would be surrounded by water. As they made their way towards their destination, Tazuna's home, Naruto got his sensei's attention with a tap to the shoulder. Kakashi looked at the boy questioningly. Naruto looked down. He seemed really uncomfortable and began to speak in a low voice so that the others wouldn't hear. Sasuke noticed and began to listen in anyway though.

"Sensei...when it looked like those guys killed you...for a minute I...I mean...I wanted to…" he trailed off and swallowed, leaving the statement in the air. "I've never felt like that before. Is there something wrong with me?"

Kakashi sighed. "No Naruto, there is nothing wrong with you at all. It's natural to feel that way on the battlefield sometimes, especially when someone you care about is lost. But it's important to know when to give in to that feeling and when not to."

"When to give into it?" Naruto asked with wide eyes.

Kakashi nodded. "Sometimes it's necessary for a shinobi to kill. It's in the job description. But knowing when it's necessary can be a difficult thing. They say the first kill is the hardest. After that, it becomes easier. But that in and of itself is dangerous. I would never want for you to become desensitized towards killing, or worse yet, to ever start to enjoy it. But just remember this. I will never fault you for killing an enemy if it means saving one of your comrades."

Naruto looked uncomfortable at the thought of killing, but merely nodded meekly. Up ahead, Sasuke closed his eyes as bitter memories resurfaced.

* * *

After another hour of walking, during which Kakashi warned his team that the next shinobi they encountered would most likely be a jounin, Naruto began looking around every now and again, as if he was looking for something, which caught Kakashi's observant eye. For the sake of being thorough, he checked for any chakra signatures in the area, but found nothing. Naruto was getting increasingly twitchy, however.

_There's no killing intent. So why do I feel like we're being watched? _the blonde thought.

"Is something wrong, Naruto?" Kakashi asked. The genin's brow furrowed.

"Something just feels...off," he answered. His eyes swept through the trees, before finally settling on a branch above them. At that moment, all hell broke loose.

"Get down!" Kakashi shouted, grabbing Tazuna and forcing him to the ground. The three genin reacted on instinct, throwing themselves underneath the path of the rather large sword that came spinning through the air, imbedding itself into a tree behind them. The group looked at the sword to see an intimidating figure standing on top of the blade with his back facing them. His head was turned towards Naruto, eyeing the genin with deadly intent that made the blonde swallow. Kakashi conspicuously moved in front of his student, and to his relief, the assailant's gaze moved towards the jounin.

"Kakashi Hatake," he spoke for the first time, revealing that even his voice was intimidating. _This will be tough now that I've lost the element of surprise though. To think that brat actually sensed me. Most _jounin _can't sense me. And to make it worse, it seems as though he didn't even know _what _he was sensing. _"Sorry, but I'll be killing that old man behind you. Mind simply stepping aside?"

"Zabuza Momochi," Kakashi acknowledged. "Everyone stay back. This one's out of your league." _He's said to be a master of silent killing. No wonder I couldn't sense his chakra signature. And yet Naruto did. Could he possibly be…?_

"Seems as if you're not just going to let me kill him. Oh well," Zabuza said emotionlessly.

"This could be tough, even for me," Kakashi said, reaching for his headband. "Naruto and Sakura stared in wonder, while Sasuke stared in shock, as Kakashi lifted his forehead protector to reveal a red eye with three tomoe.

"Ah, the Sharingan already. I'm honored," Zabuza said. "It's said in the bingo books that you've learned over a thousand jutsu, Copy Ninja."

"Sharingan…?" Naruto asked as he thought back to his short crash course on shinobi knowledge just a few weeks ago. "Isn't that…?" He trailed off as he turned towards Sasuke, who was looking at Kakashi intently.

_What's going on? The Sharingan is an ocular bloodline that only manifests in members of the Uchiha clan. Who is he?_

"Well, that's enough talk," Zabuza drawled. "It seems I have to kill you before I get to that old man." He pushed off the three, bringing his sword with him and vanishing into a body flicker, and causing everyone save Kakashi to lose sight of him. There was a splash in the water nearby.

"On top of the water!" Sakura yelled. Zabuza was using the water walking technique and making a hand sign that Kakashi instantly recognized.

"Water release, Hidden Mist jutsu," Zabuza muttered as the mist surrounded him and he vanished from sight.

"Stay on guard and protect the client. Even my eye can't track him well in this mist," Kakashi warned.

"_8 vital spots." _Zabuza's emotionless voice echoed throughout the mist, seemingly coming from all directions. _"Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle, jugular, brain, kidneys, heart. Which should I aim for first?" _

Immediately the air was once again flooded with killing intent, which affected the three genin and the bridge builder substantially. Kakashi's own was soon added to it, and although it wasn't aimed at any of them, it didn't help. Sakura and Tazuna were both frozen stiff, Sasuke was trembling, and even Naruto, who had the most exposure to killing intent, was sweating profusely.

_So this is the real thing. Aniki wasn't kidding. This is insane!_

Sasuke was having similar thoughts. _The air is so heavy. It feels like I'll be killed if I even move. I'll go crazy if this keeps up. _

Sakura's thoughts were significantly less coherent.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura." Kakashi's voice broke through their stupor, anchoring them back to rationality. "Don't worry. I'll protect you all with my life. _I will not allow my comrades to die_."

His words seemed to have the desired effect. Sakura seemed more aware of herself now, Sasuke's trembling lessened, and Naruto actually grinned, feeling more up to the challenge now.

"_Don't be so sure._" Zabuza appeared right in the middle of the genins' formation, blade at the ready. Kakashi was there in an instant, driving a kunai into the jounin's heart.

Naruto's senses were going haywire. Something felt off again, but he didn't know how to interpret what he was feeling. Suddenly, Sasuke shouted out. "Kakashi! Behind you!"

The Zabuza that Kakashi had stabbed burst into water, and Kakashi was bisected by a blade that came from behind, only to burst into water himself Zabuza's eyes widened.

_He copied my water clone in this mist?_

A kunai was now being held at Zabuza's neck, courtesy of Kakashi, who had appeared behind him. Naruto's head was spinning.

_That many body flickers in such a short time...I can't even keep up here. But wait…_

"Don't move," Kakashi commanded. "It's over."

Naruto gasped. "Sensei, no! That's a clone too!"

Kakashi reacted instantly, dispelling the water clone with a slight jerk of his kunai, before dodging out of way of Zabuza's blade once again, and then jumping out of the way of the follow up kick. Zabuza growled as he made two more water clones with a quick hand sign, before charging after Kakashi. "Damn brat! You're bothering me!" he shouted as the water clones went after Naruto. Kakashi tried to get around Zabuza to help, but the missing nin was too fast and blocked him off, forcing him onto the defensive with his sword. The two blurred into combat as Sasuke came to Naruto's aid.

The water clones were nowhere near Zabuza in terms of ability and couldn't use any ninjutsu, so Naruto was able to dodge the fist couple swings of their blades, long enough for Sasuke to back him up. The fight was still proving difficult for them though.

Sakura watched the encounter with an analytical eye and found an opening. Channeling chakra to her legs, she quickly dashed at one of the water clones from behind and attempted to dispel it with a kunai. Unfortunately, the other clone noticed her and kicked her away. She landed on the ground as Sasuke struggled to block off the clone from going after her.

"Sakura, don't!" Naruto shouted. "Stay with Tazuna-san in case he makes any more clones!" Sakura swallowed and nodded, feeling out of her depth.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto shouted once he got a bit of breathing room. 15 clones came into existence and launched an organized assault against the water clones. A few of them were dispelled right away, and others soon followed, but it bought enough time for Naruto and Sasuke to break away from the water clones.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted.

"Right," the Uchiha responded, already forming hand signs. "Fire release, Great Fireball jutsu!"

"Wind release, Gale Palm!" The wind fanned the flames as they crashed towards the two clones, which swiftly jumped away.

One of them burst into water as a kunai was jammed into its skull. Kakashi had taken advantage of the opening, using a substitution to break away from Zabuza. Before he could dispel the other one, the enemy jounin was on him again.

The lone water clone ran at Naruto, who braced himself, but it was just a feint. The clone jumped over his head, sights set on Tazuna. Sakura stood protectively in front of the bridge builder, who was desperately trying not to pass out by now, but Sasuke jumped into the air after the clone and lashed out with a kick, which it blocked with its sword, not wanting to be dispelled. It landed and was accosted by the remaining shadow clones as Naruto threw Sasuke a windmill shuriken. Sasuke caught in and threw it at Zabuza, but the water clone caught it out of the air, dispelling a shadow clone simultaneously. It then noticed the second windmill shuriken in its shadow, and ducked under it, but the second shuriken transformed into a Naruto clone right in the water clone's blind spot, and finally dispelled it with a kunai to the back.

The three genin each let out a breath, but continued to watch wearily in case of any more. Fortunately, the real Zabuza had his hands full with a fully focused Kakashi. Above their heads, two water dragons battled for superiority as the two jounin clashed underneath them.

_Something's wrong...he's not just copying my movements. He's moving at the same time as me. My jutsu too. It's like he's…_

"Predicting me," Kakashi said, causing Zabuza's eyes to widen as he jumped back, Kakashi mimicking him.

_What? It's like he can…_

"Read my mind?" Kakashi suggested, angering Zabuza.

_Fucking hell! That-_

"Creepy eye is pissing me off!" Kakashi finished, as his three genin watched in bemusement.

Zabuza growled as he started making hand signs, only for Kakashi to make the same ones exactly as he did it. "All you're doing is copying me, like a monkey!"

"**You can't beat me with cheap mind games!" **the two shouted at once.

In his anger, Zabuza lost control of his emotions briefly, allowing Kakashi to catch him in a sharingan genjutsu which caused him to freeze up once he finished his hands signs.

"Water release, Great Waterfall!" Kakashi shouted. A giant vortex of water slammed into Zabuza, propelling him back towards the forest.

_Impossible! He's the one copying me, and yet I can't keep up! _

Zabuza was slammed forcefully into a tree, and his limbs were pinned by several kunai, courtesy of Kakashi, who then body flickered onto the branch above him.

"This is your last battle," Kakashi lamented, gripping another kunai.

Suddenly, Kakashi heard a slight whirring in the air and spotted two senbon. Tracking the trajectory in a split second with his Sharingan, he realized they were heading for Zabuza, and so he made no move to intercept them. They both punctured through Zabuza's neck, causing him to go stiff and fall like a log.

"You're right," said a figure in the trees. "It was his last battle." Kakashi went over and checked Zabuza's pulse, confirming that he was dead, before turning back to the kid who had killed him.

"That mask...you're a Kiri hunter nin," Kakashi stated, earning a nod from the kid.

"Thank you for your assistance. I've been tracking Zabuza Momochi for a long time now."

Realizing the new arrival wasn't hostile, Kakashi lowered his headband again and nodded at him. Team 7 watched in slight amazement as as the hunter nin grabbed Zabuza and body flickered away.

"I feel like we just got shown up…" Naruto mumbled.

"Well, the important thing is that the battle has ended. Now, let's get Tazuna-san back home."

Tazuna, realizing that the danger had now passed, broke out into a wide smile. "I can't thank you all enough! Don't worry, once we get there you can relax for a while!"

The group started walking again only for Kakashi to stumble and fall to one knee.

"Sensei! Did you get injured?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"Well...not quite," Kakashi said sheepishly. "It's just a mild case of chakra exhaustion. It seems I've overused my Sharingan a bit."

"Will you be able to walk?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine until we reach our destination," he replied. "After that I'll just have to rest for a few days."

When they arrived at Tazuna's house, they were ushered in by his daughter, Tsunami, who fussed over them endlessly and practically forced Kakashi into bedrest. With Zabuza dead and the tension finally receding, Team 7 could finally relax.

* * *

In the middle of a forest clearing, a young boy in a mask knelt beside the body of Zabuza Momochi.

"I'll have to cut the mouth cloth and drain some blood," he said to himself, reaching out towards the body. Suddenly, his hand was grasped as Zabuza's eyes opened wide and glared at him.

"That's alright. I'll do it myself!"

* * *

Kakashi woke abruptly from his slumber, lone eye opening wide. Naruto and Sakura, who'd been hovering over him, screeched and jumped back in surprise. They both inwardly groaned as Sasuke rolled his eyes.

_So close! What the hell is he hiding under that mask?_

Kakashi ignored their antics, his brow furrowing as he wondered if he had missed something.

"Uh...what's up, Sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Well, it's just...hunter nin...they usually dispose of the body right where the missing nin dies, in order to minimize the likelihood of any village secrets being revealed. And yet, what did that Kiri nin due with the body?"

"Tough to say. He took the body away after all," Sakura answered.

"Exactly. If he needed proof of the kill, he could have just taken the head. Taking the whole body increases the chances of being targeted by enemy ninja. To any hunter nin, it's a dead practice. Also...the method he used to kill Zabuza. Senbon to the neck."

"So...what does that mean?" Naruto asked, as Sasuke's eyes widened.

"No way…" the Uchiha muttered.

"Yeah...exactly," Kakashi confirmed. "Most likely...Zabuza Momochi is alive."

* * *

A/N: Sorry this chapter was so close to canon. There wasn't really much I could do about it, other than change up the fight scene of course.

And now, shinobi ranks:

Kakashi: A (Elite Jounin)

Zabuza: A (Elite Jounin)

Naruto: C- (Elite Genin)

Sasuke: D+ (High level Genin)

Sakura: D- (Low level Genin)


End file.
